


Revenge of the Island: Fourteen

by TheKingVargas



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-07-09 16:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19891240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKingVargas/pseuds/TheKingVargas
Summary: There appears to be some slight last-minute changes. Now tipping the unbalance, a brand new teen joins the cast of Revenge of the Island. With this fresh and new addition to the show, Total Drama would probably never be the same again.





	1. Chapter 1

A white boat sped across the blue waters. Teens donned in various colors were seen standing and idly communicating amongst themselves, albeit with some fighting and rudeness. It all seemed fairly calm and expected for the most part…

However, towards the stern of the yacht stood a lean teenage boy of sixteen years and average height with short hair and bangs that is a dark brown tone and green eyes. The boy wore a light blue denim jacket over a white tee with navy blue cuffed jeans and white canvas shoes as his outfit. He also wore a silver watched on his left wrist and three black bead bracelets on his right. To the watchful eye, something was fairly off about this one in particular that was completely different and set him from the rest of his peers.

In an almost apathetic appearance, the boy’s eyes were impassively closed halfway as he stared and basked in the morning sunlight. His mouth drew in a slight frown while he scanned the floor of the boat, silently leering at the different groups of contestants joining him on this show aptly named Total Drama...

‘...Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, conduct, passion, faith, and in purity,’ the aloof brunette squinted droopy eyes at a blonde girl in a gray sweater glaring at a redhead boy in a white muscle shirt.

He then eyed a white male with a buzz cut in a soldier’s boot camp getup saluting and an African male in a sports jersey kissing his biceps near the former two, ‘It seems at first to be an odd thing to say, since we don’t have control over what others might think about us. Being young is not a license to act stupidly or experiment with destructive behaviors. Nor to be foolish, though some certainly use popular culture to imply otherwise.’

Now watching a dark and glamorous girl attack both another dark-skinned blonde girl and a pudgy white girl with a bottle of hairspray. The stone-faced male blinked slowly, ‘All of us make bad choices and decisions. But often when we’re young, our inexperience and desire to be accepted by our peers makes us more vulnerable.’

He then spotted an average-looking male with dark skin and spiky black hair talking to a pretty redhead while staring into each other’s eyes for too long, ‘The world around us shows youth and beauty as a license for hedonism, where nothing’s to be denied. It affects us physically through the food and drinks we consume for excess, financially through credit we can’t manage, physically and emotionally in relationships focused on pleasure rather than more important matters.’

‘Responsibility,’ the stoic boy moved on to yet another blonde girl in a green sweater patting a heavy-built African male with a red cap while also in a conversation, ‘is something we learn through practice. Using youth as an excuse through poor judgement and character is also learned through practice. Both will accumulate overtime, and both are also reinforced every day by our thoughts and actions.’

He sighed under a quiet volume and closed his eyes in heavy thought. The sound of button-mashing and 8-bit suddenly brought him out of his stupor. Looking around, he bent over the railing and found another heavy-built teen with ginger hair and glasses, lost in a little game in his hands.

“Woah, upgrades are available! I’ll use that towards my grenade launcher,” the nerdy male said to himself in excitement.

‘Might as well,’ mused the indifferent teen. He then pushed up and vaulted over the side and landed in a kneel right next to the big gamer, rightfully startling the wits out of him.

“AHH! Where did you come from?!” screamed the glasses-wearing teen. His surprise guest slowly stood up from his crouching position and turned to face him with a blank look.

Seconds after an awkward tension, the blonde tilted his head, “Hello, I'm Gabriel. You are?”

“Huh?” The auburn male grew confused at the greeting, hesitant at the hand offered to him before taking it awkwardly, “M-my name’s Sam… Sorry for acting weird, but why would you say ‘hey’ to me even when you don’t have to?”

Gabriel blinked at his question, “Oh, well, I thought it would be kind of awkward not knowing anybody and having to share the same island with them for six weeks. Now here I am talking to you.”

“Uh, I guess that makes sense,” Sam stuttered nervously with a small smile, happy to know someone so early in the show. It relieved him of his worries that he may end up friendless throughout the whole show.

“...So, does that mean we’re friends?” The seasoned gamer asked with a bit of hope in his gruff tone.

“Yes, if you would like us to be,” Gabriel answered tonelessly. He watched Sam pump a fist to his side in internal victory and idly looked up to find a flock of seagulls fly overhead and past the boat.

Gabriel then spotted a shadow fall from the highest part of the yacht followed by a scream and casually sidestepped to the left. He stuck a hand out to grab the hood of a red jacket just before the person garbed in it could collide with the ground. Sam awed at the brunette's strength and reflexes as the latter set down the person and brushed them off.

“Are you okay? You could’ve met with a pretty nasty landing had I not intervened,” Gabriel asked with a bored voice, but concerned all the same.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” said the new person. Gabriel saw it was an African boy with a small and lanky build and big eyes behind round glasses. The two watched as the boy groaned while he held his stomach tenderly.

Sam chuckled a bit at the sight, “Glad you’re safe, player three. I’m Sam, and this is Gabriel!” the gamer gestured to his new friend that was the stoic teen.

“So I’ve heard. Sorry for hearing in on your conversation, but I was up on the top level when the birds attacked me and that’s how I fell,” the boy said in an embarrassed tone before continuing, “I’m Cameron, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Cameron,” Sam greeted offhandedly, shocking the boy in question at the little nickname and even further by his next statement, “wow, two friends in less than a minute! That’s a new high score!”

‘Friends?’ Cameron thought with a small grin, a hand to his chin in awe. Gabriel glanced at the two from the side blankly before he heard a muffled beeping sound from somewhere in the area.

Sam and Cameron saw Gabriel look around with a somewhat confused look about him, “Uh, Gabriel? Are you o-KAYYY?!”

In a split second, the boat had suddenly exploded from underneath the levels. Gabriel and everyone was sent flying high into the sky and hurdling back down towards the water. Sam was flailing his arms and legs in terror while Cameron was stuck in a fetal position mid-air.

Gabriel, in contrast from the rest, was keeping a level head and swiftly dove straight into the water. Resurfacing from the stunt, the boy whipped his bangs out of his eyes and began swimming towards a protruding rock near the shore. Once mounted high on the stone, Gabriel made for a long jump and landed at the bank of the beach with a splash in the shallow water.

“What a start…” Gabriel muttered to himself with dry sarcasm. His half-lidded gaze was still present as he scanned the empty beach and found a few rocks to sit and rest for a while.

“Oh my, what a surprise,” Gabriel heard a soft voice from behind him and saw the girl from earlier with light blonde hair and teal eyes sitting cross-legged on a nearby rock.

The two stared at each other for a minute until the male blond made a noise of bland surprise, “My apologies, I didn’t see you there,” Gabriel then glanced at her form and noticed something, “how exactly did you get here so quick and not be soaking wet?”

“My thoughts exactly!” Gabriel and the girl then heard a shout from the shore. Coming up to them was the blonde girl with indigo eyes that Gabriel recognized as one of the first he saw on the boat, the one wearing the gray sweater and sweatpants.

“Mm,” the stoic brunette heard the mysterious girl on the rock hum in question and perked up, “oh! I used a shortcut!”

Gabriel kept an idle eye on her while the other girl from behind him threw a silent tantrum over something about third place, the both of them obviously not believing the girl’s word. Nonetheless, Gabriel sighed in tiredness and trudged along the shoreline and to the rocks he found earlier.

Once there, he hummed while looking down at his clothed which were heavily damp and soaked. Gabriel closed his eyes and upturned a look at the sun above. More exhalation and Gabriel laid down on a flat rock with his hands underneath his head and faced the heat of the atmosphere to dry himself off, shutting his eyes.

“Ooh, that’s a good idea!” Gabriel slowly opened his eyes not a second later at hearing a new voice close to him. He turned his head to see a familiar duo of the redhead girl in the red blouse and the skinny boy with spiky hair. They both were smiling as they approached the stoic teen and joined him on the rocks.

Nervously rubbing the back of his head, the dark-skinned male grinned at Gabriel, “Hey, name’s Mike! Mind if we join you?”

“Go ahead. Not like I own the place,” Gabriel answered in his dull and toneless way, idly checking his watch that was still working. Both Mike and the girl looked to each other before shrugging Gabriel’s carefree attitude off and sat down with him.

The redhead then turned to the blond with a beaming smile and a hand to her chest, “And I’m Zoey! What’s your name?”

“...Gabriel,” our aloof protagonist responded idly. His green eyes then trailed over the passing clouds in the sky as his conscious was buried underneath the many thoughts trespassing within his mind.

Seconds past and Gabriel’s face was scrunched up in confusion and regarded the duo with a slight frown, “What, pray tell, made you two join me?”

Mike looked confused at his presumption and shrugged with a friendly expression, “Just seemed like a good sitting spot. I wouldn’t mind a bit of rest since we have no idea what’s to come in this show now that it’s all new and stuff.”

From behind him, Zoey nodded fast with an excited smile, “Mhm! Speaking of which, I am so stoked to be here! I’ve been watching Total Drama since, like, the beginning!”

“Y-yeah, me too!” Mike went along with what Zoey said as his face burned a hot red, staring in delight at her jovial attitude.

‘That sounds like a studied response,’ Gabriel paid attention to Mike’s flustered look as he sat up straight and threw his legs over the rock to stand. He noticed earlier that the other contestants have all finally grouped together on the beach and assumed things had to be underway.

“ATTENTION, FRESH MEAT,” lo and behold, Gabriel was right as Chris’s voice was heard over an intercom, “SEE THAT TRAIL LEADING INTO THE FOREST? YOU MUST RACE TO THE END ALL THE WHILE NOT DISTURBING THE WILDLIFE… THAT WOULD BE BAD!”

Gabriel and his unwanted company all met with the others as the former heard the mocking tone of the athletic African male, “Sure, we wouldn’t want to upset the bunnies!”

“THE TINIEST OF SOUNDS COULD SET THEM OFF. LIKE THIS!” so loud and blaring, a horn sounded off through the intercom that blew an entire gust of wind towards Gabriel and the contestants. Gargantuan sounds of animalistic growls and hisses were heard through the thick bushes and trees within the forest, scaring almost the majority of the teens.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Gabriel commented with his dull voice. The rest, however, screamed and ran for the foot of the trail in a panic with Gabriel following them all from behind calmly.

Minutes later in the deep forest, the new addition of campers were running frantically while simultaneously running out of breath. Meanwhile, Gabriel was keeping up just slightly to the end in a steady jog as Sam came up beside him while trying to catch his breath as well, much more than him and the others.

The big gamer guy laughed tiredly, face sweating from every pore, “Man, you don’t seem to be scared at all! What’s your secret?”

“I suspect this is one of Chris's sick games. This should be expected of him,” Gabriel put it vaguely. Sam seemed to have taken it literally and pursed his lips together in wonder.

“Woah, you sound just like a video game character!” Gabriel chose to not answer in favor of turning a curve along the trail where he spotted a white line with posts, assuming it to be the finish line.

The brunette slowed down a notch when others made it before him and Chris suddenly appeared, riding in an ATV. The host began pointing fingers and directing them towards two different spots right beside him.

‘Must be the team formations,’ Gabriel thought. He neared the clearing and passed the goal with Sam tailing him. The stoic, along with his gamer friend, joined the cast as Chris smiled their way.

“Gabriel, with Team A! And last, but not least, Sam, on Team B!” Total Drama’s charismatic host gestured then to their spots as Gabriel went to join Cameron, Zoey, and Mike where the small boy waved to him with a grin. Also present was gray-sweater girl, glamour girl and army guy.

Chris gave a megawatt grin, “Enjoyed the leisurely morning run?”

“What the heck was that thing in the forest?” said the redhead in the muscle shirt, rubbing behind his head with a worried expression.

“Oh, you’ll find out eventually…” the host chuckled sinisterly which was blown into a full hysterical laughter with an equally twisted grin, unnerving the majority of the cast while Gabriel looked unamused, “ahem, anyway, campers! This season of Total Drama will be a bit more different than its predecessors, as in each episode will have an elimination!”

Gabriel blinked indifferently as the others gasped at the prospect, Zoey verbally shook, “What?! But it’s never been that hard before!”

‘I knew there had to be a catch,’ Gabriel mused in his head offhandedly. With such a wide gap between World Tour and this season with a smaller cast this time, something was off about it from the get-go. Plus, with the way Chris has been acting lately, something nagged at his instincts.

“I know! I’m THAT good! However, since you’re all relatively new on the scene, I’ll cut you guys a bit of leeway. This, right here,” Chris announced before he held up a small wooden statue of his own face and head, “is a genuine McLean-branded Chris Head – a.k.a. your ticket back in the game even if your teammates vote you off! Whoever manages to find this, hidden somewhere on this very island, will become the most powerful player on the show!”

Gabriel eyed the statue with an unreadable expression while the others awed at the new addition to the rules, meanwhile Chris rubbed his face as he studied the statue, “Has the cleft on my chin really been that big?”

“Oh yeah. And it looks like a butt,” the country boy mocked with a smirk, seemingly not bothered by the threatening glare the host in question sent his way.

“Smart comments aside, time for the team names!” Chris announced, letting the ginger off the hook...for now.

One enthusiast jock raised his hand in the air high with a victorious grin, “Ooh, Team Lightning! No wait, Lightning SQUAD!”

Chris chuckled and went on with the show, “Interesting suggestions there, Lightning, but the team names have already been decided in pre-production! Team A, consisting of Jo, Brick, Zoey, Mike, Cameron, Anne Maria and Gabriel, are officially known as the Mutant Maggots!”

“Huh, never knew the sergeant was behind this,” Gabriel heard the male named Brick comment idly about their name, perhaps referring to his time at boot camp or whatever he did prior to here.

“And Team B, consisting of Lightning, Scott, Dawn, Dakota, B, Sam and Staci, are hereby pronounced the Toxic Rats!” Chris gestured to the other group across from him.

Gabriel blinked impassively at the sadistic host, “Why suddenly interested in nuclear waste? What brought that about?”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Mike agreed with the aloof brunette.

“Glad you asked, Gabriel! You see, I rented Wawanakwa to a hazardous waste company a couple years back, and their product had a teensy little effect on the wildlife and fauna,” a distant growl in the forest outright terrified the campers before he moved on from the topic, “now, before we begin our first challenge, let’s hand out some rewards!”

‘He’s not off the hook just yet,’ Gabriel eyed the host with his dull expression. He most certainly knows just what kind of person Chris is or can be.

Soon as Chris announced that, the host waved over to who Gabriel and them immediately recognized as Chef Hatchet. He was bouncing on a trampoline with a hacksaw in hand, “Jo, since you crossed the finish line first, your team is handed the trampoline! Rats, you get the hacksaw!”

‘I’d much rather have the hacksaw,’ Gabriel commented in his thoughts privately, watching Chef be humiliated by the others laughing at him when he fell from the trampoline. The brunette casually sidestepped and caught a flying hacksaw by the handle headed for Cameron’s face, saving him from a horrible injury.

“T-thanks, Gabriel!” Cameron thanked with a shaky grin. His aloof friend shook his head in modesty before safely tossing the tool towards Lightning who caught it while sending him a thumbs up.

“Nice reflexes, Gabriel!” Zoey complimented, smiling big at him. Jo came in while carrying their trampoline under her arm with an eye roll meant for Gabriel.

As Chris signed off the show for a commercial break, he regarded the contestants with his famous million-dollar grin, “Alright, guys! Follow me this way to the challenge site!”

Seconds later, the two teams found themselves standing under a respective totem pole tied to a branch in a tall tree, noticing an axe embedded in the bottom of it. Gabriel scanned his eyes over the statue and the trampoline still in Jo’s possession as the show was back on air.

“Here are your team totem poles,” Chris said, “your task is to get them loose from the tree, take it to the cascading river down the mountain, and finally ride them down to the campgrounds. The team who gets there first gets first pick of the cabins. But beware! Those totems are rigged, both housing active bombs that will explode if you don’t get them in front of your chosen cabin within the time limit! Now, go!”

‘What's with him and explosions?’ Gabriel thought to himself, sighing for the umpteenth time before joining his team under their designated totem.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Jo exclaimed before flipping onto the trampoline, only to bounce sideways and fly into the nearby river and draw confused and blank looks from her team.

As Cameron was drawing calculations in his head, Gabriel glanced to the side to see the other team and found Lightning desperately climbing their tree. One failed attempt after another, he just couldn’t seem to get it.

To Gabriel's side, Cameron grabbed his attention to whip up a strategy, “I’ve calculated how Jo could jump from the trampoline, based on her weight and height. If she could just spring off slightly in a twenty degree angle to barely reach the axe, then–”

“Enough with the math lesson, Toothpick! Anyone else wanna give it a shot? How about you, Mr. Broodington?” Jo came back dripping wet and blatantly shoved Gabriel towards the trampoline, the latter taking her harsh attitude in calm stride.

Brick, however, came in to his defense, “Now that is not how you treat your comrades during the line of work!” In the background, Gabriel was busy studying the positioning of both the totem and trampoline.

“Save it, Sergeant Buzzcut,” Jo waved him off uncaringly, confusing Brick with her name calling. Gabriel pulled the trampoline a bit out from underneath the shadow of the totem and had it laid adjacent to it for a bit of air room once he goes and jumps.

Mike pursed his lips at the jockette and turned to Gabriel with a warm and supportive grin with a big thumbs up, “No pressure, man!”

“You can do it, Gabriel!” Zoey cheered, his whole team now watching as Gabriel hopped on the trampoline and tested the spring’s power and weight. Cameron, since watching Gabriel go to work, wondered if he’s thinking what he’s thinking. There was more to the quiet boy underneath that blank exterior but can't exactly place what it is.

With Gabriel, the stoic teen bounced in place a few times before jumping and gaining both air and momentum. After the fourth jump, Gabriel flew and kicked off the side of the tree and jumped for the totem. He reached and scraped his fingertips on the handle of the axe, holding on to it with surprising strength. The totem dangled and moved side to side with Gabriel still clinging on.

He found the axe incredibly lodged in the wood. Gabriel grunted as he pulled, his lower half swinging back and forth. No matter how much he tugged on the axe, it wouldn’t budge an inch. Giving up on it, Gabriel thought of something else quick.

‘Just how strong is this tree?’ Gabriel commented idly to himself before quickly lifting himself up and gripping the sides of the totem and carefully pulling himself up on top of it with the rope between his thighs. He thanked his average measurements to allow the statue support him safely.

“Wha–! How could you–?! That’s not even–!” Jo stared in disbelief while the others cheered for their brown-haired teammate. Cameron was expecting something else entirely, but this unorthodox method could indeed work as well as his first initial plan he had in mind.

Mike turned to Cameron with a shocked look, “Gabriel sure is something else, isn’t he? I don’t think anyone here could’ve thought of that!”

Cam shrugged with a nervous smile, “I-I’m just as baffled as you are! Now that Gabriel made it up there, we have to figure out how to release the rope and bring the totem down. Hmm, but how…?”

“Just hang in there, Gabriel! We’ll figure out something next,” Zoey called up to the blond before turning to the rest of her teammates, “okay. Any ideas for what to do now?”

The small boy in glasses hummed with a look to the ground, “...Now that Gabriel is up there, maybe one of us could help him to add more supporting weight. That way, the totem can just snap off the branch. Judging by Gabriel’s build, just him alone won’t be enough to handle it.”

“Oh, so one of us goes too for added weight? Sounds easy enough,” Brick said, rubbing his hands before approaching the trampoline. He hopped on and tried his hand at it, but he jumped too high and too early, hitting his head underneath the totem, just barely missing the axe handle.

The Maggots gasped and winced as Brick fell on the floor, the young cadet seeing stars and muttering something in confusion. Jo facepalmed at the pathetic display and focused on what to do herself. She was finding it extremely frustrating as her mind was drawing a blank.

High above in the trees, the expressionless Gabriel felt the totem rock from the impact Brick had made. A startled look appeared on his face before it disappeared in a flash. He was internally thankful that Brick seemed to give up after a couple more tries with a downtrodden look, for both their sake.

‘I’m getting nowhere sitting still like this,’ Gabriel thought. He looked around and studied the tree next to him for a minute, noticing the old bark was chipping off on its own over the years before covering his right fist with his jacket sleeve. The brunette began to punch away at the bark, scraping a bit of the fabric on his jacket.

Both Zoey and Mike heard the commotion he was creating and saw him breaking the hard skin of the tree with huge eyes, the dark-skinned boy shouting, “What are you doing, Gabriel?”

The rest heard Mike calling to their quiet teammate and saw what they were witnessing as Cameron pursed his lips in confusion, “What’s he thinking now?”

Back with Gabriel, he pulled with his fingers and managed to snap off a small but sharp blade of bark and handled it like a short sword. He squinted at its thickness before starting to cut away at the thin rope with its rough edges. Seconds after, it began to show tearing and wearing before the straw finally ripped apart that allowed the statue to fall.

Gabriel gasped slightly as he immediately grabbed the remaining rope to the tree as to not fall as well. The totem fell right on top of the trampoline, its heavy weight not suitable for bouncing and only crushed the springs underneath, rendering it useless.

His team sans Jo, who only stared blankly at her fellow Maggot, cheered and joined him at their totem as Gabriel dropped from the tree. He paid them no mind and only focused on the timer on the bomb that read for two minutes left before it was too late.

Cameron took notice too and looked pretty scared, “G-guys, the bomb’s still ticking! We gotta hurry!”

“...String Bean’s right! Come on, people – move it!” Jo had easily broken out of her funk and pushed the totem towards the river with the help of Gabriel and Brick. 

One by one, the Mutant Maggots all piled onto their ride home and rode down the descending river. Chris nodded and waved to the opposing team, “And the Mutant Maggots are on the move! Can they make it on time before time makes it first?”

Meanwhile, the Rats were having a bit of trouble on their side. Until finally, Dawn persuaded Dakota into how to work the hacksaw by pretending it to be her father’s steak knife and cut the rope to free their own totem. They saw right after how much the Maggots were gaining the lead and booked it towards the river with their statue.

And speaking of the Maggots, Jo had taken leadership and sat at the front of the totem with the rest behind her. Gabriel was behind Brick and Cameron with Mike and Zoey behind him. He dared to look back at the top of the river and found the Rats already there, trailing after them closely behind.

“They’re gaining on us,” Gabriel notified calmly, pulling his team into attention.

Cameron looked nervous and faced the front of the makeshift raft, “Ooh… What are we gonna do?!”

Gabriel’s eyes squinted at the opposing team strategically leaning on their totem, thus picking up speed. It seemed as if Zoey had noticed too but she fell backwards in fright at the fast water and was almost wasted if it weren’t for Mike hastily grabbing her arm. Gabriel then ignored their moment and saw the Rats passing them up.

“What?! Our lead!” Jo shouted in anger, seething at the smug look on Lightning’s face as the boy boasted while flexing on her. Brick now looked a bit uncomfortable taking the seat behind the raging blonde.

Mike groaned as he gripped his air in frustration, “Oh man! We have to do something and fast,” then suddenly, he took a sharp inhale as his right eye squinted and his lips puckered in, “dagnabbit! Quit wastin’ time and think, you ninnies!”

“That’s what we’re trying to do, Mike!” Cameron shouted while surprising himself at how loud he had gotten. Meanwhile, Zoey was looking at Mike in confusion and Gabriel eyed him sideways in silence.

Jo rubbed her face clear of any rage and breathed, “I guess we have no choice but to borrow from the Rats! Lean, people,” she spoke with authority.

All together, the Maggots leaned their fronts forward in hopes to catch up. And it didn’t seem all that difficult of a challenge for the Rats had only taken the lead for at least several seconds. The Maggots were determined either way, no matter how close or far they were from the finish line.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the course, Chris was there sipping on a cold beverage on a beach chair in front of a luxurious white cabin and a regular Total Drama cabin. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he sat up fully in anticipation, watching it all unfold, “Ooh, this is gonna be a close one!”

And indeed was it close. However, the Rats kept their lead all the way as their totem slid down the hill and on the grass. Chris stood up and met the hasty team halfway, a big grin on his face as he welcomed them.

“Congratulations, Toxic Rats! Since you’re the first ones here, that means you get first pick of the cabins! Your choice?” the host then gestured to the two buildings in question with his hands behind him.

Scott was leaning forward while heavily panting in a tired state, “Quick! Nab the good one!,” he points to the fancy cabin, the rest of his team agreeing wholeheartedly.

Chris nodded and was about to say something if it weren’t for the Maggots coming in soaring through the campgrounds through the air. Gabriel narrowed his eyes marginally as his team’s totem pole dives in like a spear and crashes into the bigger cabin through the ceiling. The bomb taped to the statue beeped down from three seconds to zero and, expectedly, the house cabin imploded and came crashing down in rubble.

With the Rats, they were left dumbstruck as some expressed their anguish at their ruined cabin while Chris shrugged with the same smile, “Well, what an unexpected turn of events! It had an eight-person hot tub and A/C. Since the Maggots’ cabin is the only one left standing, they win the challenge!”

All the Maggots looked worse for wear but cheered nonetheless with Gabriel breathing out in tamed exasperation. This outcome was not one of the candidates of the conclusions he predicted to happen, but it should have been expected anyways with Total Drama’s track record. Where exactly can he draw the line between expectation and reality when regarding this show?

Cameron came from his side and offered a tall high five, the brunette slowly returning it, “You did great, Gabriel! Really a team player!”

“Honestly, you’re blowing it out of proportion,” Gabriel replied flatly, still in his bored tone.

Mike and Zoey happily trotted over to the pair with smiles as the former chuckled a bit, “Nah, don’t sell yourself short, man! Because of you, we were totally in the lead for the majority of the challenge!”

“Yeah! If things were any different than they are now, no telling where we’d be,” the redhead commented with her beaming grin. Gabriel blinked sluggishly, seeing that they wouldn’t take his modesty so lightly.

‘This is the exact opposite of what I want,’ he mused to himself. He acted impulsively and did way too much than what was asked of him. Carelessly, he brought attention to himself day one. His dark eyebrows narrowed behind his bangs.

“I gotta say, perhaps you are something rather interesting,” Jo came up with her hands on her hips and a little smirk, before it turned ugly, “but don’t let this get into your head. I’m the alpha of our pack and you’re my dog!”

“Believe me, I really don’t care much for it. Who am I to take responsibility for an entire team? I’m just a white bird, flying free,” Gabriel spoke with a bit of an edge to his usually blank tone.

“Ah, tough as well. But is your bite as strong as your bark?” Jo challenged with a smug expression.

“That’s a good question,” Gabriel replied without missing a beat, challenging her cocky grin with his emotionless expression.

The rest of the Maggots looked a bit tensed while staring at the clashing of polar opposites that were Gabriel and Jo. One was calm and indifferent, the other fiery and unrestrained. They were obviously worried about what could happen between such strong opposing personalities, and it hasn’t even been a full twenty-four hours yet.

Jo suddenly erupted into laughter and placed a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder, “Ha! I like you, kid. With us on this team, there’s no way the Maggots would lose. Fat chance of that happening!”

Gabriel chose not to reply in favor of turning his attention to Chris who was finishing addressing the Rats and was now on them, “Maggots, we’ll see you in a few days! Unpack and rest real good! You’re gonna need it, haha!”

The leading team looked and found the Rats had been delivered another cabin, only it was an exact twin to theirs. Anne Maria mocked them with laughter while Zoey softly reprimanded her. Gabriel heard Cameron let out a sigh beside him.

“Something on your mind?” Gabriel asked.

The small boy wringed his hands nervously as he spoke, “Just a bit hung up on what Chris implied what may happen to us next time…”

“It’ll be alright, Cameron! You got a team to back you up! We’re all in this together,” Mike proclaimed, earning cheers from Zoey, Brick and Anne Maria. Cameron was appreciative while Gabriel and Jo went and inspected their respective side of the cabin.

Gabriel was about to enter the boy’s side before he heard the jockette call to him, “Hey, Wallflower.”

He turned to meet Jo’s competitive smirk as she clenched a fist in front of her, “I didn’t want to admit it in front of them, but good work today. And make no mistake! I’m no pushover either!”

The quiet boy nodded and waved his hand while entering the cabin, “I understand. It’s quite obvious as you’ve made it known today,” he missed the shocked look on Jo’s face as he made his way into the boys’ side.

“Wait up, soldier,” Brick came up the stairs with Cameron and Mike in tow as they followed Gabriel into their room.

Jo frowned before shaking her head at the ambiguous character that was Gabriel before seeing Zoey go past her with Anne Maria, “Ooh, they kept the bunk beds? Yay!”

On the boy’s faction, Gabriel scanned the room and found a black duffel bag on the bottom bunk bed on the left side. He made a beeline for it and unzipped it to find his belongings of clothes and other necessities for camp. The stoic boy pulled out and laid aside a blue towel with another white shirt and black sweats along with a bottle of shampoo plus body wash.

“An honor to bunk beds with you, soldier!” Gabriel heard Brick say to him with a salute and a small grin, already dressed in his sleepwear.

The stoic teen looked and found Cameron and Mike taking the other beds on the right side gathering their own change of clothes, “Oh, likewise. Sorry, did you want the bottom?”

Brick shook his head no and waved a hand, “I’m fine with either. I actually took the top bunk back in training at my old boot camp,” the cadet already climbed to the top and settled in for the day.

Gabriel stood there alone at the side of his bed. Glancing outside the window, nighttime seemed to come by quicker than he anticipated. The challenge did feel longer than necessary. He eyed his teammates and saw them at their own devices, too busy to do anything else.

He sighed for the final time and left for the communal bathrooms to take a shower, necessities in hand. The nightly air was warm and nice on his skin as soon as he stepped outside. Gabriel quietly left the cabin and toward the bathroom by himself. It looked like no other boy was out for the bathroom, so that was a plus.

Closing in for the showers, Gabriel heard a faint ruffle of leaves and twigs from behind the communal bathroom. He sped walked around the other side of the building and pressed his back against the wall, peeking around the corner. Outside the forest that was looming behind, there was an outline of a person heading straight inside the woods.

Gabriel squinted his eyes and found that it was that ginger haired country boy in the white muscle shirt, Scott. The brunette's expression was as lifeless as ever as he spied on the ginger sneaking his way through the bushes. His green eyes gleamed with an unknown look before he shook his head, favoring the shower more than whatever Scott was up to.

After twenty minutes or so, Gabriel exited the bathroom in his sleepwear. He had is day clothes folded and tucked under his arm as he made his way back to his team, as well as a wet towel. But he stopped suddenly right before stepping onto the stairs, eyeing sideways with a neutral frown.

“My, what another surprise,” a soft voice entered the area. Gabriel turned and found the girl with light blonde hair dressed in her nightwear on the Rats’ cabin porch. She was sitting cross legged on the railing with a butterfly perched on her finger.

Gabriel blinked lazily and fully turned towards her, one foot on the platform, “A coincidence, maybe?”

“Hm, perhaps,” the girl giggled with a hand to her mouth but then softly gasped, “oh! My name’s Dawn. Please forgive me for being so imprudent.”

“You’re good. I'm Gabriel,” the stoic introduced himself, “why aren’t you inside your cabin? Did something happen?”

Dawn immediately shook her head, “Oh, no. I just find it really comfortable to bathe in our atmosphere, especially at night. It’s exhilarating to become one with your surroundings,” she then held the insect close to her chest with a bright smile.

Gabriel turned his head and roamed his eyes over the lush green of the grass and woods, “I can see where you’re coming from. We were given a beautiful world to live in, and so we should do our very best to care for it. ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed,’ as Gandhi once put it.”

“Yes, I completely agree! It’s no joke that Earth is indeed in need of nurture. As it’s all over the news lately, I can’t bear to watch many documentaries on wildfires and global dimming. So much money and yet they can’t lift a single finger to help,” Dawn ended with a small pout.

“Seems as though Chris doesn’t have that down pact,” Gabriel added with his empty tone, referring to the tainted land of Wawanakwa. He hadn’t meant to, but it seemed his joke brought the girl out of her stupor and had her in a fit of laughter.

“That he doesn’t. Ah, I won’t keep you any longer out here, so join back with your team. Have a good night!” Dawn waved to him with a smile.

Gabriel nodded, “Likewise,” and entered the cabin. He saw Cameron and Mike almost out the door and the three exchanged their biddings quickly. The brunette walked straight for his bed and laid under the blanket, setting his clothes aside for the morning.

‘I don’t know what to say right now exactly. My day has been uncharacteristically eventful,’ Gabriel closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It was in the middle of the night for the Total Drama contestants. Both the team cabins were as quiet and dead as the gloomy and eerie air.

Inside the Mutant Maggots’ cabin, there was a bit of a complicated scenario on the boys’ side. Brick was busy sleeping soundly on the top bunk under his sheets, back turned against the other side and facing the wall. Underneath him were sprawled-out blankets and bedsheets with a vacant bed.

Mike, the spiky-haired teen, was tossing and turning in his bed while grumbling to himself, “These darn youngins with their dang recklessness and tomfoolery…”

Above his bunk laid Cameron in a sleeping bag. He was curled up inside with his eyes peeking out of the zipped hole. The lanky fourteen year old was looking a bit worried as he heard Mike talking in his sleep.

_ ‘What is up with him? He sounds completely different,’ _ Cameron hid further into his sleeping bag with wide eyes. He was curious if Mike's talking had also been bothering Gabriel and Brick, but it seemed that the cadet was fast asleep and unperturbed.

But there was no Gabriel; not a sign of him in the cabin. The bubble-boy was confused. Where had his friend gone off to so late in the night?

Above the Maggots’ cabin, Gabriel was sitting cross-legged on the rooftop. His head was turned to look at the bright moon in the sky as his mind was preoccupied with a bunch of thoughts. The blonde couldn't sleep very well after a few times waking up, so he decided to freshen up for the new day.

Gabriel was busy reminiscing about the week prior to now, a bit after he was accepted as a competitor for Total Drama…

_...It was a late Saturday morning. Gabriel was seated at a lone booth in a café house. He took a mug of coffee in his hand and a book in the other. The front cover was the Mona Lisa's eyes peering through the torn image of paper. _

_ The blonde was immersed in the pages of his book when a confrontation was heard at the front of the house. He saw a girl around his age facing an older boy with an elderly woman behind her. Gabriel noticed the restaurant was dead quiet as they were interrupted by the scene. _

_ “Please, sir. You wouldn't give up your seat for this nice lady?” the girl softy asked. To her disappointment, the boy merely scoffed with a small chuckle. _

_ “You must be joking. Why should I be the one to do it? You must know that there are others more suited than me to be kind,” he said mockingly. _

_ The small elder tugged at the girl's shirt, “It's really alright, sweetie. I could find somewhere else to go and eat,” that didn't sit too well with the girl, as evident by her conflicted look. _

_ That was Gabriel's cue to leave. As he left a tip and tucked his book into his jacket, he went to get up and leave the coffee house. Gabriel blatantly ignored the girl's persistent pleas for someone to lend the elder a seat at the waiting section… _

“Kindness encourages togetherness and benevolence, in consequence, paves the way to an understanding of interdependence with others,” Gabriel said under his breath. The moon’s illumination gave him an appearance of an astral projection in the light.

Gabriel scooted closer to the edge of the cabin roof and let his legs dangle over the corner, daybreak almost around the corner, “The hurt and the healer would both feel better, and it will inspire the witnesses to join them in their happiness.”

The blonde almost missed it, but Gabriel heard the sound of rustling bushes off to the side. Near the edge of the forest, he saw the farm boy from the Rats exit from the narrow group of trees with a heavily scowling look on his dirtied face. Gabriel scooted back towards the top of the cabin to be out of his view.

_ “...This right here is a genu-ine McLean-branded Chris Head – a.k.a. your ticket back in the game even if your teammates voted you off! ...Whoever manages to find this, hidden somewhere on this very island, will become the most powerful player on the show!”  _ Chris's words replayed in Gabriel's head.

So this kid was out searching for the idol? He must be taking this game very seriously if he's slaving himself out in the woods at night looking for it. The boy did seem to strike Gabriel as the devious type, evident of him sneaking off in the middle of the night.

But it looks as though he's having a bit of trouble finding the idol.

Gabriel eyed the boy blankly as the latter tiptoed onto his team's side of the cabins. Hearing the door quietly shut behind the country boy, the blonde stood up on the roof. He carefully walked across and leaped from the dome onto main ground. Gabriel bent his knees to soften his landing as to not stir ruckus from the impact.

Standing up from his crouch, Gabriel walked from behind the Maggots’ cabin and up the stairs to the patio. He opened the screen door to the boys’ room and stepped him. Gabriel could easily tell that all three of his male teammates were fast asleep. That's one thing avoided.

Gabriel walked to his bunk and pulled out his bag. Grabbing things to freshen up for their day off from a challenge, the blonde exited the cabin. He was on his way to the restrooms while wondering what could happen in the next few days.

**_Three Days Later…_ **

“ ***Honk*!** Up and at ‘em, campers! Time for today's challenge,” Chris was standing outside of the team cabins with an air horn in hand. One by one, each camper filed out and met in front of the host.

Cameron came up to Gabriel with a tired sigh, “Morning, Gabriel.”

The blonde nodded in return and rose an eyebrow at his gloomy state, “Did you not sleep well enough?”

“I tried to, but Mike is still keeping me up for most of the night with his sleep talk. I think somethings up with him,” the bubble-boy yawned out, “Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you where were you last night? I didn't see you in your bed for as long as I was awake these past few days.”

Gabriel responded back, “I had trouble sleeping as well. I was up on our cabin roof and night-watched until I did get tired.”

That seemed to satisfy Cameron as he nodded while busy rubbing the fatigue from his eyes. The others were giving Lightning strange looks. Apparently, he had confused everyone by his DPA custom.

Looking around at the group of teens surrounding him, Gabriel seemed to have noticed something was different,  _ ‘It appears that Staci girl was the first booted off from the Rats. But for what reason, exactly?’ _

“You can catch up on your sleep and DPA  _ after _ today's challenge,” Chris said without a care and hopped into his ATV, “Follow me this way, to the Bay of Dismay.”

Gabriel saw Chris pull out a fishing rod of some sorts and used it to confiscate the tanned-skinned girl’s cell phone and Sam's Game Guy magnetically. Guess that was to be expected from someone like him. Actually, speaking of Sam, they haven't really been in touch since almost two days ago after the first challenge day, being on different teams and all.

As Chris drove off with the campers following him, Gabriel slipped beside Sam and tapped his arm, “I don't think you wouldn't bring your game around water anyway, right?”

Sam dipped his head down in depression, “Yeah. I should've left it on my bed. But I'm so close to the next dungeon!”

“You’re really into games, huh Sam?” Cameron joined in as he caught up with the two as the gamer sheepishly shrugged. Gabriel found himself between his unlikely pair of acquaintances as they walked towards the forest. He was getting a bit tired of these trees.

Gabriel glared in front of him and interjected before Sam could appropriately reply to the lightweight bubble-boy, “I’m more interested in this new challenge.”

Cameron groaned and held his head in despair, “I hope this isn’t a physical challenge. I prefer something a little more academic.”

“I’m sure you do, Short Stack,” Jo intervened mockingly, apparently been walking right behind Gabriel, “I actually am surprised at how that scrawny neck can even support that big head of yours.”

The short boy clenched his hands as he retorted with clear anger in his voice, “But my greatest strengths are mental!”

Jo rose an eyebrow at Gabriel with a thumb gesturing to Cameron incredulously, “This guy for real? What’s he to you, huh?”

“A friend,” the stoic blonde said plainly. Cameron grinned appreciatively at him while Jo merely rolled her eyes and walked ahead of them, warning the petite boy to stay clear out of her way.

“Cameron,” Gabriel spoke suddenly, staring into the lanky boy’s big eyes as he gazed back, “from what I’ve seen, being underestimated is one of the biggest competitive advantages you can have. { _ It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one,} _ ”

After a long beat, the bespectacled boy smiled gratefully, looking at Gabriel in a new light, “...I see. Thanks, Gabriel!” Cameron walked ahead of the pack with a bit of confidence in his step.

“That was nice – what you did for him,” Mike came up beside Gabriel with Zoey in tow. The two were smiling in amazement at the blonde’s pep talk with the bubble-boy.

Gabriel glanced at them sideways and continued following Chris and his ATV, “I couldn’t stand by and watch Jo pester him like that. Plus, he needed the boost. Cameron could use all the support he can get while he’s here.”

Zoey giggled after hearing his concern for a friend, “We’re right there with you, Gabe! He has his friends, now,” her and Mike embarked ahead of him and joined Cameron closer to the front of the group.

_ ‘Gabe?’ _ Gabriel mused in question. He then felt a tug at his jacket sleeve and found Dawn next to him with a snowed look. He swore she most likely appeared out of nowhere with how quiet she is.

“Was that Socrates?” she asked knowingly. All she received was a nod from her fellow blonde. Gabriel continued on with the rest as Dawn followed him with a broader smile.

After a bit more walking, Chris led Gabriel and the others towards a game show-like arena surrounded by the ocean water. A big screen was in the middle of the sets of seats in rows separated by the two competing teams, Gabriel surmised. There was a podium in front of the screen in the center.

The host gestured the teams to take their respective seats. Gabriel took a seat that was to the far right in the front row. He saw Cameron came and took the spot next to him with Mike in the middle of him and Zoey, taking up all of the bottom row. Anne Maria, Jo and Brick sat in the top row in that order.

Cameron nervously wringed his hands together and turned to Gabriel, “What do you think this challenge could be?”

“I have no clue. Knowing Chris, it’s nothing short of unpleasant,” the unobtrusive teen responded. That didn’t assure Cameron in the slightest as his chin planted on top of the table in worry. He and Gabriel then just noticed the red buzzers in front of them.

Mike held a green strap in his hands and looked behind him, “Uh, do we put these on?” One by one, the Mutant Maggots strapped themselves in their separate harness.

Chris hopped on the podium in a light blue suit and a red bow tie, holding a stack of cards, “Welcome, campers, to the ‘Getting to Know You’ trivia game challenge! Is everyone strapped in all nice and tight?”

“Too tight that they’re cutting into my shoulders,” Gabriel saw Scott on the other side of the arena struggling with his harness. To the left side of the country boy, he noticed Dawn looking at him while waving with an eye smile.

“Yeah, the child harnesses would have to do for now,” Chris said in a way Gabriel knew that he was lying, “for this challenge, we have some embarrassing and deep-level personal questions to ask our campers. We’re talking majorly humiliating! If the contestant owns up to their embarrassment and hits the poorly-wired buzzer before time runs out, they earn their team a point! First team to five wins part one and a distinct advantage in part two. But if no one owns up to the humiliation, this happens!”

Promptly, Chris pressed a button on a remote he had, plunging the Mutant Maggots into the water. Gabriel hadn’t enough time to hold his breath as panic settled into his mind almost immediately. However, he managed to get a hold of himself quickly in time for a mutant shark with a pair of legs to come swimming right toward his team.

Fortunately, they were pulled up from out of the ocean, courtesy of a cackling Chris, “Woo! That never gets old!”

“There was some kind of two-legged shark monster down there!” Mike stammered, holding himself in fear as the rest of his team shared his plight. Gabriel propped his elbows on the table and clutched the sides of his head.

“You mean Fang? Hehe, yeah. Turns out toxic waste can screw with the stuff underwater, too. Who would’ve thought? Not me,” Gabriel couldn’t believe this man. New season, even worse Chris.

Said host continued his explanation of the game, “Anyway, if the team gets dunked, the opposing team can steal their point by guessing the correct person who is guilty as charged. But guess wrong, and–” Chris interrupted himself by dunking the Rats into the water this time. Seconds later and they were brought back up.

Chris laughed at their expense and pointed to them, “Now, to the Rats! Listen carefully: who did this on their very first and only date they ever had?” On the big screen, a question mark sounded off a farting effect with gas.

Many of his team and the Maggots sans Gabriel and Cameron laughed as Sam bent down in embarrassment with a blush, “Where did you get that? Ow!” He hit the buzzer and an electrifying shock ran through him, earning his team a point.

“Maggots: who wet their pants on the first, and also the last day of school?” The screen showed a pair of jeans with a wet splotch on the groin area. To no one’s notice, Brick flinched a bit in his seat.

Mike grew surprised, “Woah! One of us is a pants-wetter?” Zoey giggled at his genuine curiosity while Gabriel eyed two particular members of his team who could be potential candidates for the question.

Up on the second row, Jo glanced at the flushing face of Brick and held a finger up, “He who sweats it, wets it. Team before pride, soldier!” The young cadet bit his lip and raised a hand hesitantly before buzzing in.

The Rats all laughed as Brick reeled back in pain from the electric shock, “Yeow! Fine, it was me!” Cameron rubbed the back of his head in pity while Gabriel slowly blinked at his bunk mate.

On the Maggots’ side, they earned a point, “And it’s one all!” Chris announced as the aforementioned team cheered. Zoey went and appeased Brick from his embarrassment as best she could before they moved on.

“Rats: whose first name is really… Beverly?” Chris read from a note card.

Gabriel heard Brick complaining from his spot, “That’s not an embarrassing question! Who cares if a girl’s real name is Beverly?”

The silent blonde looked to his rivaling team on the other side. Dakota was busy preening herself in a little mirror she had while Dawn merely looked on with a neutral face and her cheek in her palm, giving Gabriel the answer they needed.

It went quick as lightning when B suddenly buzzed in without a word, the poor wiring shocking him. Gabriel and Cameron glanced at each other, not knowing what to think of that.

“Correct, Beverly~ Rats get the point! But I would’ve preferred a verbal response,” Chris said with a frown.

Dawn came to B’s defense, “But B never talks! Just look at his aura!” The big man in question looked a bit uncomfortable being put on the spot like that, only choosing to shrug.

“Don’t care,” Chris quickly retorted, “so, as a quick punishment,” with one press of a button, the Rats were dunked into the water with no warning.

Gabriel side-eyed Chris with a small frown, “I completely forgot that you make up rules as you go, too.”

“Like I said, I’m THAT good!” The host gave a mocking laugh as the Maggots were not amused in the slightest. Chris then clicked his remote and brought the Rats back up to the surface.

“Hold on, they’re missing someone,” Cameron noticed, seeing the empty spot between Lightning and Dawn. Gabriel remembered that it was Scott’s seat.

And speak of the devil, the farm boy came clawing his way back up from the water and onto the stands. He toppled over into his seat and sat up straight with a bemused look, “Thanks for leaving me down there, team! You can win this stupid challenge without me!”

From above Gabriel, he heard Anne Maria fiddling with her harness to get it off, “If he’s not playing, then I’m not either!”

“Um… since I’ve already been humiliated, can I go?” Sam piped up with still a red face from his earlier embarrassment.

Chris was looking a bit agitated at them making their own decisions on his show, “Okay, everyone just settle down, alright? Trust me, we’re almost through with part one!”

The Rats and Maggots both quieted down and hesitantly listened as the host moved on, “A few more and we’re done! Maggots: who ran away from home at only thirteen?” At this, both teams gasped in shock.

“Huh? What kind of question is that, Chris?!” Zoey lashed out at him, getting up and slamming the desk with her hands.

“You’re kind of stepping out of bounds there, don’t ya think?” Jo spoke up with a glare. But before anyone else could muster up a response to the sadistic host, a buzzer went off followed by a static shock.

All of the contestants turned their heads in utter shock when they found that Gabriel was the one who hit the buzzer. The blonde took the electric charge and quietly grunted in pain. His eyes blankly gleamed at Chris through his bangs in an unreadable fashion. 

“G-Gabriel…?” Zoey muttered softly. Mike and Cameron sat still with stunned looks on their faces. Jo raised an eyebrow with a slightly agape mouth. On the Rats’ side, Sam was frowning at his friend while Dawn studied Gabriel for a moment before gasping in surprise.

The rest of the campers couldn’t say anything as the scoreboard read two-to-two, “Maggots tie up the game! Bummer; would’ve liked to keep dunking you people,” Chris announced, not at all bothered by the blank look Gabriel was giving him, despite still sweating a bit.

“Alright, that’s it! I think we should stop!” Shaking out of his stupor, Mike quickly stood up after unbuckling his harness off of him. The rest all agreed with him, surprisingly, as each expressed their own complaints in their own way.

“A-Are you okay, Gabriel?” Cameron asked his blonde friend, raising a tentative hand towards him. He received no response from the silent teen.

Chris was shaking in contained frustration before shouting, “Alright! Shut IT! Thanks to that pathetic digression, now we don’t have enough time to finish this challenge! Happy?”

Both teams cheered in their victory as the show’s host continued, “Well you won’t be happy for long. Come back after the break for an all-new challenge from which there is no escape! And in the meantime...”

He then dunked both the Rats and the Maggots back into the ocean. Fang came barging in and went for the Maggots. Cameron and the rest panicked as the mutant shark drew nearer but blanched a second later at seeing Gabriel sock the two-legged monster in the nose with a right hand so fast and suddenly, stopping it in its tracks.

They were soon brought back into fresh air as Chris addressed them, “Campers, meet me back on land for your next, gruesome challenge! Chop-chop!”

After finally getting off at the dreaded trivia arena, the campers followed Chris through a trail in the woods. They were still freshly soaked somewhat and were trying to dry off while walking. Not in the least were they a bit excited for what could happen next.

Treading lightly, Mike laid a hand on Gabriel with a concerned frown, “Are you gonna be alright, Gabe?”

“I’m fine. It was a long time ago; long enough for me to move on,” Gabriel replied in his monotone. Mike shared a worried look with Cameron and Zoey for a split second before taking his hand back.

“Well, if you say so… And if you don’t mind me asking, just where do you stay, exactly?” Zoey asked next with a frown.

“With a family friend. She was also my maid when I was still with my parents,” that garnered him some confused looks from his team.

“Maid? You were rich?!” Anne Maria blurted out with sparkling eyes. The other Maggots deadpanned at her one-track mind.

Gabriel glanced up at the sun through the leaves in the trees, “Not at all. Their home is just big, so my father hired someone to help clean. It made me feel sorry for her, honestly.”

Brick rubbed his arm in a guilty manner, “I don’t think I feel too comfortable staying on this topic any longer than necessary.”

“You and me both, pal,” Mike said, desperately trying to change the subject, “Uh… so that challenge, huh? What was Chris even thinking? A mutant shark?!”

“Surprisingly, that wasn’t the main thing I was worried about. Thank goodness the challenge ended before Chris could ask me any embarrassing questions!” Cameron joined the conversation.

Jo scoffed while grinning devilishly, “Let me guess: who needs their diaper changed?”

_ ‘...Is she a child?’  _ Gabriel thought with his emotionless expression as Cameron yelled with a voice crack, “I haven’t worn a diaper since I was eleven!”

Jo sneered as Brick and Anne Maria both erupted in laughter. Zoey looked back at Gabriel and Mike with a bothered expression. The stoic blonde eyed the jockette’s back with his hands in his jacket before watching Cameron fiddle with his hands in embarrassment.

“The challenge is over. You don’t have to keep humiliating yourself,” Brick said to Cameron, leaning beside him with knitted eyebrows. The group heard Jo chuckle.

“No, please, keep going. Or does baby need his bottle?”

Cameron’s eyes narrowed at her malevolence, brain remembering what Gabriel said to him before the challenge, “I have just as much right to be here as you do, and I’ll prove it in the next challenge! You’ll see!”

“Come on! Need I remind you your place on this team? Face it, on this type of show, I cannot promise your survival for another day!” Jo said, completely crushing Cameron’s spirit.

“If you just keep moving forward in the right direction with a positive mental attitude, you will surely come out on top. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently.” Gabriel came to his small friend’s defense.

And all attempt from Jo to crush Cameron’s Hope was gone as the bubble-boy smiled in gratefulness at his friend’s help. Mike and Zoey grinned in approval. Even after all of that back there, Gabriel is still, thankfully, himself.

“Whatever, ‘Gabe’. What are you, a prophet?” Jo mocked with a fed up expression.

“He’s a good friend,” Mike defended with a glare. The competitive tomboy merely rolled her eyes at their goody-goody friendship crap. The two teams eventually arrived at what looked to be an obstacle. Their eyes grew wide at the ridiculous display of platforms and structures stretching all the way across a muddy field.

Chris’s voice boomed over an intercom near the players as he was standing in some grass at the very end of the course, “Welcome, players! Now that you’re all here, it’s time for part two of today’s challenge: The ‘Mad Skills’ obstacle course!”

One close look at the swinging boot at the start of the obstacle course and the campers were looking unsure at this new challenge.

“The relay race begins with mad dash from the Kickstart,” Chris gestured at the large swinging boot in front of the two teams, “Forget coffee – if this baby doesn’t get you going, nothing will.”

_ ‘It can also probably kill you,’  _ Gabriel commented in his head dully. He was eyeing the fast and unstable momentum of the swinging boot very warily. Everyone else seemed to notice as well, judging by their scared expressions.

Chris turned his head to another section, “Then it's off to the races against time that is the Cannonball Run,” rows of cannons were hung above the target area. Cameron gulped audibly.

Gabriel's eyes followed what was to come next after the cannons as the host resumed, “Over to my personal fave, Wrecking Ball Alley! Hurts so good!”

“And moving on, we head to the Gangplank. Complete with rabid mutant beavers,” small planks were wobbling precariously separated by an even jumping distance. Awaiting at the bottom were mutated beavers gnawing at the wood supporting the platforms.

Every camper on both teams shook their heads in dismay while McLean went on, “Followed by the bouncy agony of Double Trouble,” four red balls bounced up and down out of sync near the end of the course.

Beside Gabriel, Cameron was sweating more and more until Chris finally finished with introducing the challenge, “And finally: the Grand Slam, where you'll be using ropes to swing into the giant baseball glove all the while avoiding those deadly bats. Peace of cake! Haha!” A giant baseball mitt was surrounded by giant protruding bats.

The campers awaited Chris to begin discussing the circumstances, “As you may remember in part one, I said the winning team would receive a distinct advantage in part two?”

“But there was no winner!” Zoey pointed out with a worried tone.

“Don't remind me,” Chris replied in a disappointed voice, “the losing team was gonna wear snazzy specs while competing. But since we've never actually finished the competition, I've decided that everyone has to wear them!”

From behind the group, Gabriel saw Chef Hatchet come and bring a box in his hands. Jo walked up to the cook and dug her hand inside, taking a pair of tinted green glasses and putting them on, “Hey, what's with the ‘grandpa glasses’?”

Her vision was strictly blurred and everything in front of her was fuzzy, “We won't be able to see anything wearing these!”

“Dork-tacular glasses won't make part two easy, or attractive, but it can be done – in theory,” at this, the cast all groaned at the idea of wearing the defunct spectacles. They all took a pair and reluctantly put them on as Chris began assigning people to different positions on the obstacle course.

Gabriel went to grab his own pair of glasses, but Chef raised the box up high above his head, out of his reach, “I don't think you'll be needing one of these, boy.”

“And why is that?” Gabriel asked with his hand still outstretched from trying to grab them.

“Chris would like to have a word with you,” Chef said with a stern expression. The blonde met the hard gaze of the cook with his usual blasé one before Hatchet led him over to the host.

The Maggots and Rats were preparing to head to their designated areas. Cameron pocketed his normal round glasses and blinked to adjust to the bleary vision of the green ones. He then took notice of Gabriel's absence and tried to find his friend.

The bubble-boy found him following Chef on their way to meet with Chris, his eyebrows tilting up in confusion, “What's he doing?”

Mike and Zoey also saw the dark blonde and were curious above all, “Where's Gabe going? Is he in trouble?” the nice redhead asked worriedly. Cameron had no other answer than to shrug.

Jo had even spotted what was going on and only squinted her eyes in suspicion. Dawn had her hands clasped in a tense manner, wondering what could that abomination of a reality show host want with Gabriel.

Chef stopped and prompted Gabriel to step forward next to Chris who was sitting in a chair in front of a flat-screen TV, “Go ahead.”

“Gabriel! Just the man I wanted to see! What do you think of part two, huh? Really outdid myself, I think so!” Chris started with his famous grin.

“May you perhaps not beat around the bush? Spare us your pride,” the neutral blonde commented, getting a small snort from the show’s designated cook.

Chris's eyelids lowered in bemusement, “Fine. I brought you over here to have a little chat with you. As you might not know, this season was supposed to only cast a total of thirteen teenagers. After a few skim-throughs of audition tapes and the final uneven roster, the producers decided to take in one more last minute. That lucky fellow happened to be you.”

“I can see why the unbalance could be a major issue,” Gabriel said, gesturing to him and the even match-ups of the other contestants on the obstacle course as the challenge began.

“That was also a reason why I called you over here. Gives me an excuse to not deal with that type of complication,” Chris waved his hand offhandedly with an uncaring smile. He shrugged at Gabriel's pointed look and crossed his leg over the other.

Chef rolled his eyes at the host's predictable behavior, “Wasn't there something else you needed to tell him?”

Chris flinched at the question and clenched his hands, face sweating a bit, “Uh, sure… I also called you here to, um…apologize about earlier. So, err… sorry.”

“That must've taken a lot of your willpower, didn't it?” Gabriel asked with his arms crossed.

“Haah! Like you wouldn't believe,” McLean breathed out in relief, like a burden was lifted off of his shoulders, “why I exposed you was fairly simple. I received a phone call from a little someone who asked me to do so. Do you have any idea as to why that is?”

“Please enlighten me,” the fourteenth camper replied with a hint of a knowing laced tone in his words.

Chris laughed as if he was thoroughly amused about the whole situation regarding Gabriel, “Now imagine my genuine surprise at actually getting a phone call requesting the expulsion of a camper! They so desperately wanted you to have the boot, it was very interesting.”

“But you know that isn't possible,” Gabriel retaliated reasonably.

“Precisely. You're under contract, so any outside interference is strictly prohibited. Unless by the game's established terms and conditions, there's no real reason to worry about it,” Chris said in a rare moment of seriousness.

Gabriel, in all honesty, stifled a scoff. Chris sure can have his moments when he wants to. The host sat up and laughed, pointing at the screen when Brick got a face full of cannonball and fell forward.

‘Perhaps I spoke too soon,’ the stoic blonde thought as Chris settled down and turned to him once again, “For some reason, the producers have taken a bit of a shine to you, kid. Something about, and I quote, ‘a different but nice change of pace; a breath of fresh air,’. I'm not sure what that means.”

Staring indifferently at the screen and not at all perturbed by Chris's comment, Gabriel paid attention to the screen as Zoey had passed the maggot baton over to Mike before it threw up all over his face. The blonde and Chef noticeably cringed while Chris merely chuckled.

But what took them by surprise was Mike, who out of nowhere begin pulling off amazing athleticism and stunts. He cleared the Double Trouble effortlessly with flips and handstands. 

“Woah! Mike unveils a secret skill and the Maggots retake the lead,” Chris announced. Meanwhile, Gabriel had narrowed his eyes in wonder throughout the entire thing.

The three watched as Mike held the maggot to a waiting Cameron who appeared to be stunned at what just happened, “Svetlana? Mike, how did you do that?!”

Mike blinked and looked around in confusion before looking quite nervous, Gabriel observed, “Uh, do what? Hehe… Here you go!” He dropped the maggot into Cameron's hands, although the bubble-boy raised an eyebrow in skepticism at the spiky-haired male.

Gabriel watched as his small friend ran the platform while cheering before skidding to a halt at the final section, “...I'm a dead man.”

“Man?” Chef idly commented. He and Chris began laughing as Gabriel eyed them sideways in bemusement.

At the course, Dakota finally caught up with Cameron and immediately began to swing to the glove. After just coming up short and falling into the mud below, the bubble-boy came swiveling on his rope and ran into a bat, sliding down into the muck.

Just then, Gabriel spotted an air balloon entering the video screen from above. It turned out to be a paparazzi for the spoiled blonde. While Dakota was distracted by the flashing cameras, Cameron tried his hand again, counting with his fingers when the maggot bit his hand and made him trip over a rope with his foot.

The young boy helplessly swung towards the mitt and rammed into multiple baseball clubs before luckily landing on the giant glove. His team's mascot fell and landed neatly on his dangling legs in the air before throwing up on the boy again. Gabriel was mildly impressed at the spectacle.

“The Maggots win!” Gabriel's team all cheered at their victory. The wayward blonde left to go get Cameron down from the glove. He grabbed the still dangling rope Cameron had used and swung towards the boy. Heaving him over his shoulder, Gabriel returned to the grassy plains.

He heard Cameron's pained groans next to his ear all the way back to his team. Chef had just come with a basket full of McLean-brand soaps as a reward for the Maggots. Gabriel suddenly stopped and watched as Chef shot a rock out of a slingshot into the air.

Dakota’s annoying entourage deflated away from the scene, deciding to crash land somewhere else. Ignoring the fame-monger’s cry of complaint, Chris ushered everyone back to the campground.

Later that night back at the Maggot boy's cabin, as Gabriel predicted, he was under the interrogation of Cameron and Mike about what went down with him and Chris. Brick was off in the showers, having gotten a head start.

“So… He just wanted to apologize to you?” Mike asked with a raised eyebrow, clearly not believing the idea that Chris apologized to anyone.

Gabriel nodded sincerely, “I didn't really take him seriously when I heard him. But just this once, maybe he was being genuine,” the tanned boy took the blonde for his word with a friendly grin.

“Well, if that's all that was, then I suppose that's more important than the challenge. Nothing can excuse what he did besides an apology,” Cameron commented with a sigh of relief. He was worried if Zoey figured right that he did get in trouble.

“You guys are good people, you know that?” Gabriel commended bluntly. Both Cameron and Mike laughed in modesty.

Getting up from his bed, Gabriel grabbed what he needed for a quick shower and left the cabin. Walking a good distance outside, the blonde was interrupted halfway through the bonfire site. He halted in front of the small figure that was Dawn who was staring at him in concern.

Gabriel blinked at her sudden appearance, “Um, hello, Dawn. Is there something you need from me?”

“An honest answer,” approaching him gradually, Dawn lifted a delicate hand to Gabriel and laid it on his arm, “what an unbelievable color…”

“May I ask what you're doing there?” Gabriel questioned, visibly flinching underneath her touch.

Dawn's eyes dropped in a manner of grief as she inched closer to her fellow blonde, “I have the ability to read people's auras... What was once a beautiful bluish-grey, now lies a fuzzy monochrome. Gabriel, is there something you want to get off your chest?”

“Yes. You, for starters,” the stoic teen nudged Dawn away from him softly. Gabriel walked around her and made for the communal bathrooms.

Dawn gasped and outstretched a hand in an attempt to get his attention, but failed. Her face fell to the floor in rejection as a small moan escaped her lips. She slowly turned back around and returned to her team's cabin.

With no other interruptions, Gabriel saw the bathrooms ahead of him. His pace was sluggish and his arms fell slightly in a weak style. The blonde's face remained emotionless as his mind was playing with him…

_...“Gabriel,” a young Gabriel was sitting at a desk in his bedroom, scribbling away on a sheet of homework when he heard a voice call to him. _

_ He lifted his head from his assignment and turned to face a tall man in his early thirties dressed in a business suit. The adult male’s face was obscured and his form strict and professional. _

_ The man lowered his gaze to meet Gabriel, the faintest hint of his shadowed eyes narrowing in roughness, “If you want to be strong, learn how to fight alone.” _

_ Gabriel said nothing back as a response but returned to his work, a dark gleam entering his eye as he continued moving his pen... _


	3. Chapter 3

Nights go as quick as they come, Gabriel always thought. When preoccupied with a bunch of his questions, comments, concerns and the like, he finds the day to whiz on by before anyone knows it. Time really is a valuable thing.

“Time fleeth away without delay,” Gabriel said to himself, double-knotting his shoes.

Right now, he and the Maggots were up preparing to begin the day. They had another challenge awaiting them and everyone was none too pleased about it. Every few days, they all dread the idea of waking up early in the morning and having to succumb to Chris’s sadistic reign of terror ushered vicariously through this damned contest of his.

Ironically, it’s also Gabriel’s safe haven, although he wished there was a better and more preferable alternative.

The serious blonde stood up from his bunk and slipped on his jacket that was hanging from the bedpost. Gabriel breathed out slowly as the other Maggot boys were finishing up themselves. Brick was gone on a morning run while Mike and Cameron had almost slept in if it weren’t for Gabriel waking them in time.

Mike groaned, stretching his back groggily, “Ugh, I hate challenge days. Why does he have us up at seven in the morning?”

“...Punctuality?” Gabriel asked rhetorically. His spiky-haired teammate could only sigh at the term.

Cameron smiled in pity at the tired boy, “We can pull through, Mike. We’re lucky we even woke up today.”

Finding no argument to that, Mike shrugged with a weary grin. Gabriel, after getting ready, left the cabin with his two friends in tow on his way to breakfast. On their way out, they greeted good morning to their female teammates and some of the members on the Toxic Rats.

Gabriel had noticed Dawn would steal a glance at him every now and then. Whenever he turned to meet her eyes, however, she averts her gaze nervously somewhere to the surrounding forestry. Last night’s altercation must’ve not settled very well with her.

 _‘She was merely being kind, but it’s my problem to deal with, and mine only,’_ the blonde tucked his hands into his jacket pockets and continued walking with his team, replying and answering to Cameron and Mike’s comments and questions.

“Hey, ‘Gabe’,” the stoic blonde heard Jo’s condescending voice from his left, “so what’s the deal with you and Chris? Trying to finesse us or something?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jo. All Chris wanted was to apologize to him,” Zoey intervened, crossing her arms in discontent at the jockette’s behavior. She had heard from Mike of what really happened a little after that same day.

Jo scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Do you honestly believe that? Since when does Chris ever apologize to anyone, especially us?”

“I’m guessing honesty is sort of a foreign concept to you?” Gabriel asked in his toneless way. The Maggots stifled their laughs at Jo’s narrowing look.

She pointed a finger at his face, “I’ll have you know that I am the most honest person here! What makes you even think that Chris was at all honest in his apology, huh? Answer that!”

“Actually, there are tricks and signs one could use when telling if someone is lying to them,” Cameron started.

“No one asked you, _String Bean_ ,” Jo cut the boy off.

Mike nudged Gabriel on the shoulder to grab his attention, “You know, you don’t have to answer her. Even if that was the case, at least Chris attempted an apology.”

Zoey nodded, “I didn’t even think that he was capable of apologizing!”

“Honesty is the best policy, my Ma always says,” Brick chimed in with his two cents. The Maggots entered their own little small talk until they reached the camp’s main lodge.

Each remaining camper got in line for their “breakfast” and all sat around at the tables, each in their separate sections for their respective teams. Speaking of remaining, ever since Dakota was the next to be booted off, the Maggots were at the advantage of having every one of them still here. With their seven to the Rats’ five, the numbers were on their side.

Gabriel mentally shook his sneaking thoughts from his mind and sat down with his bowl of gruel at the very end of the table next to Zoey. Cameron was in front of him picking at his food, squirming and flinching every time he did so.

Cameron sighed and pushed his bowl way away from him, “Yeah, it’s best if I don’t even bother.”

“You have to get something in your stomach. Never know what these challenges may bring about,” Gabriel got through Cameron as the bubble-boy reluctantly took a spoonful and ate.

“I heard that if you hold your nose while eating, you can’t even taste the stuff,” Zoey said in a matter-of-fact tone. Cameron tried it and when it had worked, shot a thumbs up at the redhead with a grin.

“That’s pretty resourceful of you, Zoey,” Mike complimented. The two stared at each other for a while until their moment was spoiled by Anne Maria and her hairspray suffocating Cameron as he choked on the moisture.

She seemed apologetic enough, “Sorry, short stuff. But on the bright side, now your lungs are waterproof!”

Cameron was busy clearing his throat and cringed as he tried replying, “Wow… thanks.”

Gabriel was left to just watch while Jo and Brick were having a bit of an eating contest. Brick was eating too fast and got his spoon lodged into his throat, having to stand to try and cough it out.

Jo smirked and got behind the cadet with a fist cocked back, “Easy, _Jarhead!_ Don’t wet your panties,” she punched Brick in the back, causing the spoon to come flying out of his esophagus.

The spoon flew and hit Mike in the back of his head, interrupting his talk with Zoey, “Ow!”

Gabriel observed when Mike took in a sharp bit of air as his facial expression changed immensely, different then his usual doe-eyed look, “ _Darn kids! Back in my day, we ate with our hands like decent folk!”_

‘...What is with this old man impression? Cameron has told me about it before,’ Gabriel thought inspectingly. 

“Lose the old man impression; it offends my sense of victory. But your Russian gymnast ‘Svetlana’ – how do you summon such strength and precision?” Jo asked in interest.

“I, uh… rehearse a lot in front of my mirror,” Mike flexed his skinny arm in an act, “ _Duh~!_ Ehehe…”

Gabriel slowly turned his eyes to meet with Cameron. The two boys shared a look of understanding as they nodded inconspicuously, deciding to get to the bottom of whatever is going on with Mike. It’s becoming a bit of an issue between the boys and stirring up confusion.

From the Rats’ side, Gabriel heard Lightning begin choking out of nowhere, likely from his food. He saw Dawn come to the rescue and performed the heimlich on him, saving his life. Lightning tried to thank her but the blonde girl bent down and picked up a beetle that was in his throat, petting and cooing at it.

He didn’t know he was staring too much until Cameron broke him out of his stupor, “Gabriel, are you okay? What’s the matter?”

Gabriel turned to him and waved him off, “Nothing to trouble yourself with. Don’t worry about it,” the two then spotted a mouse with an enlarged head come crawling across their table right in front of them.

Cameron leaned in to get a closer look with an amazed expression, reaching a hand to touch it, “Look! A cute, little _Apodemus sylvaticus!”_

“I don’t think you should be touching that, Cameron,” Gabriel advised as he stood up from his tree stump in caution, alerting his teammates.

“Gabe, what’s the–!” Zoey was cut off as the rodent became agitated by Cameron’s attempts and started levitating. It’s eyes glowed green with powerful radiation, sending the campers into a frenzy.

There was a ruckus with tables and other products thrown by the mouse’s telekinesis until _almost_ everyone made it out of the main lodge alive. Behind Cameron, Gabriel pushed him out of the way of a flying refrigerator that was thrown out from the building.

Once everyone was settled down outside, Zoey appeared worried as she was searching for someone, “Wait, where’s Mike?!”

As if on cue, the contestants watched as Mike was tossed out of a window and landed face first into the ground with his legs in the air behind him. Zoey ran to Mike and helped him stand as Gabriel walked towards the fridge. He opened it and grabbed an apple out of the drawer, crushing it a bit to let some of the juice seep out.

“Uh, Gabriel? What are you doing, buddy?” Sam asked in a curious tone.

To answer him, the blonde boy threw the fruit far into the woods. Like he thought, the psychic mouse scurried out of the lodge and made a break for the trees. With its enhanced senses, it smelled the apple’s juice from way inside the building.

Cameron was the only one inquisitive while the rest looked on in bewilderment, “How did you know that would work, Gabriel?”

“As it apparently grew superpowers from the radioactivity around here, I figured the same could be said for its senses. Plus, all mice love fruit,” the responsible blonde answered boringly.

“Nice work, soldier,” Brick saluted with a sweating face. He was the most freaked out of the bunch.

Every camper sighed in relief at that abomination finally leaving them alone. Some even laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

Dawn was smiling in awe at Gabriel, despite her small hesitancy to approach him. She didn’t know he was that good with animals! Whatever is wrong with him, it doesn’t seem to affect him as much as she thought it was.

Immediately, the loudspeakers flared on as Chris’s voice boomed through the area, “ATTENTION, PLAYERS! PLEASE HEAD DIRECTLY TO THE LOOMING TRAGEDY THAT IS: MT. LOOMING TRAGEDY. YOU’RE RACE BEGINS...NOW!”

At the signal of a blaring horn, Jo lead her team in her authority, “Maggots, ho!” The campers ran for the large and distant sight that was Mt. Looming Tragedy.

Eventually, Gabriel and the rest made it to the top of a hill with all of them catching their breath. Sam caught up with them last minute as Cameron wobbled away from the group and near a bush. He fell to his knees and threw up inside the shrubs.

Some of the teens winced at his pained groans and only Jo was not one to care at all, “If we were hamsters, I would’ve _eaten_ you by now.”

While Gabriel was helping Cameron towards the others, Chris whistled loudly from nearby to grab their attention, “Okay, mutant food! On to the challenge! Part One is an uphill battle. Your task is to climb all the way up to that cliff.”

The host turned and pointed up at the colossal rocky mountain, “First team to the top gets an advantage in Part Two. You can climb with your hands, or use whatever there is in this pile,” Chris nudged a thumb at a small heap of trash behind him as he continued, “Don’t worry, this junkyard doesn’t have a dog… It has a giant, mutant beetle!”

A monstrous beetle popped out of the trash and hissed at the teens. It’s eyes flashed an evil red as the campers gasped in surprise. Gabriel glanced at Dawn to the side who looked at the mutated insect in pity.

“Haha – big guy’s a bit of a hoarder,” Chris describes merrily, “his estate is full of useful crud, and disgusting crud.”

Picking up an old and used toilet, the beetle chucked it towards the frightened cast of teens and forced them to duck down, “That is, if you can get near it!”

Chris gave a thumbs up to the top of Mt. Looming Tragedy, where a large horn sounded off deeply, “It is ON!”

The teams raced to the mountain with Jo as her group’s dedicated spokesperson, “Let’s hustle, Maggots! Double time!”

Gabriel and Cameron formed their own duo as the former watched the latter try climbing the side of the cliff, failing miserably as he did so, “Shirt’s...so heavy. Ugh, s-socks weighing me down!”

The poor bubble-boy slid down from the rocks in defeat. Gabriel fought the urge to sigh and helped him up by the hood of his jacket. They heard Zoey give Cameron a bit of a pep talk until she struggled a little herself, only to have Mike help her back up on a small ledge.

Gabriel turned his focus to the pile of useful junk in contemplation, wondering what could possibly help them scale this mountain. Anything that will work in his eyes is fine by him. However, there is that giant beetle he would have to worry about.

Deciding on it, he turned back to face Cameron who was still catching his breath, “I will see if there’s anything in the trash that could help us.”

Cameron nodded tiredly as the dark blonde made his way to the pile. He could try climbing it by himself with his hands, but he sadly believed that Cameron simply doesn’t have the upper body strength to do so as well. Besides, he didn’t want to leave the small boy behind like that.

Running towards where the heap is, Gabriel spotted Dawn helplessly trying to jump for any rock ledge she could grab on to. Then Sam came sliding down the mountain next to her, claiming that he has given up on the challenge.

Gabriel came close enough to hear Dawn appeasing the gamer, “Sam, wait! I sense B has a plan.”

“Cool. I hope it involves not climbing,” Sam commented as B was tapping his chin in thought, inspecting the loitered items in front of him. The three heard Gabriel’s footsteps coming closer until he met their eyes.

Dawn audibly gasped, bringing her arms into her chest in an attempt to make herself look smaller. Sam, on the contrary, greeted him as a friend. B appeared suspicious of his calmness and his indifferent fix.

Not at all put off by the awkward tension, Gabriel kneeled in front of the pile while surveying the collection, “Don’t mind me, just trying to win. Let me not stop you.”

His forest green eyes watched B sideways, noticing the large teen looking a bit lost at what to do. After some time searching, the two found a radioactive barrel sitting on top of some other material. B went to grab it, but was tugged back by Gabriel to avoid a stream of fire coming his way.

They fell to the floor on their backsides as the mutant beetle came to protect its territory. Gabriel got up and gave B a hand to stand as well. The beetle breathed fire again at the pair but the mute genius pulled up a refrigerator door as a shield to shelter both him and Gabriel.

Hearing Dawn come running to them, Gabriel put an arm out to stop her from coming any closer. She halted and looked at him in confusion, but relented underneath his empty but stern glaring. Without a word, Dawn pointed Gabriel to a recorder sticking out from the trash.

He tugged it out and passed it on to her, but a shout from Sam interrupted them, “Toss it over here! I’ve got Folk Band 3 at home,” with no argue, Dawn pitched it to him, “and the high score!”

 _‘...How come he insists?’_ Like Gabriel thought, the ginger pulled the recorder to his lips and played a raucous, way-out tune. The beetle jumped overhead and landed on a rock near Sam. In agitation, it hissed and breathed fire at him.

“Aaah!” Sam ran for his life in circles from the now rolling insect, “the console makes better music!”

While the Rats were busy with the mutant beetle, Gabriel was rummaging through the pile on his own. He mentally thanked Sam for the inadvertent distraction. Though it took some time to dig through all of this junk, he eventually struck gold.

The blonde heaved out a metal ice axe, having to pull it out from under a boulder. Gabriel tested it out, swinging it against the rugged surface of the mountain. He was relieved to find the axe stab neatly through the rocks and unhinge back out easily.

“Oh, there you are, Gabe! I see you had the same idea?” The aloof boy found Zoey, Mike and Cameron approach him without trouble. Sam was doing a pretty good job keeping that monster bug busy.

Mike pointed and awed at the sleek tool in Gabriel’s grasp, “Woah! You found _that_ in _there?!”_

“I would say it wasn’t that hard, but I don’t want to jinx it for you three,” Gabriel replied, earning their gratitude. He watched as Zoey found a grappling hook, Mike a pair of plungers, and Cameron a pack of gum.

Gabriel headed on to complete the challenge, stepping up to the mountainside after turning to Dawn with a neutral face, “Good luck to you and your team,” he swung his axe far ahead and pulled up to grab a ledge, missing the moonchild’s faint blush.

The four Maggot members slowly but surely scaled up the looming and rocky structure. Gabriel had a little head start and made it to where Brick was falling a little behind near the top with a...dislocated arm? With an extra push, Gabriel worked his axe in a consistent swing.

Thanks to the momentum he built up and his surprising arm strength, he now surpassed the young cadet and found his way close behind Jo. As the jockette was the first person to complete the challenge, Gabriel was the second. With his pickaxe grappling the edge, he pulled himself up for the last time and joined Jo at the top.

Dropping the axe, Gabriel went over and stood next to Jo, “I see that you’re here already?”

“Expect anything else?” the athlete asked with a brow raised. Just then, they saw the Rats on a rocket couch come soaring and crash land on top of Chef. Jo winced at the debacle, missing Gabriel backing away with his eyes closed.

“You did it B… We won the challenge!” Dawn cheered as the rest of her team joined her. They paused when Scott came and fell face first into the rocks next to them.

Flying into the scene in a jet pack, Chris interrupted, “Hold on, _Nature’s Nurse!_ I say who wins.”

Jo laughed at the name calling, but the host wasn’t done yet, “The Rats, thanks to B! See how I do that better?” Now the Toxic Rats freely celebrated their victory. Only Gabriel noticed how Scott was the only one not participating.

“Wait a minute! I got up here first; we won!” Jo argued with crossed arms. Brick somehow managed to make it up the cliff with his broken limb. He heard what Jo said and raised his arms in a cheer, but yelled in pain as he stretched his fractured appendage.

“He meant for the whole team to finish together. Clearly the Rats are the only winners around here,” Gabriel explained to Jo for Chris.

“Correctamundo!” The smiling host exclaimed.

Jo scoffed and looked to the side, “Pfft, whatever.”

Everyone heard someone else make it up and it was Anne Maria, not looking to pleased at Jo for whatever reason, “Die, blondie!” With a fist clocked back, she rushed at her in a fit of rage. But she accidentally punched Brick when Jo ducked and sidestepped out of the way.

“Ow! Ow, ow!” Brick was shoved back and backpedalled near the edge of the cliff, but his arm was snapped back into place by the blow, “Hey, it’s fixed! Thanks, Anne–!”

Failing to notice what was to become of him, Brick fell over the side and harshly tumbled down the cliff all the way to the main ground, “My other arm!”

“Who else is heading for a fall, literally? Find out after the break!” Chris voiced.

Jo sighed in frustration and walked off in anger, ignoring Brick’s cries, “I _altho_ bit my tongue!”

Gabriel merely blinked before heeding the Rats’ presence next to him, “Found a solution to the beetle problem?”

Dawn had answered him almost immediately, surprising herself, “Oh, yes! It had been missing its child – the beetle from this morning. It was the most touching reunion of all time!”

“...That’s nice,” he responded, looking up at the clouds. Dawn’s face scrunched up as if she wanted to say something, but she only lamented while quietly staring at the boy.

“Oh, right,” Gabriel added looking at her again, garnering the girl’s attention, “nice job on picking up the win. Just plan on following up with it, or else Jo will come and steal it from you.”

Dawn was stunned by how much he was speaking to her today after what happened yesterday, turning to meet B’s supporting eyes before smiling sweetly and more freely now at Gabriel, “Thank you, Gabriel.”

Coming back on the air, the teens have arrived in the middle of a freezing ice field. They were without proper clothing for the cold, thus they were shaking like leaves. Besides Gabriel and B, who wore jackets, but even they were feeling extremely cold.

Gabriel was between Cameron and Jo, tucking his hands in his jacket and hugged himself for warmth. It was time to continue the game. On the Maggots, Zoey held a red flag with their team’s mascot. Scott held a green flag with the Rats’ distinguished mascot.

“Greetings, ice teams,” Chris came on a snowmobile accompanied by Chef, both dressed in thick snow jackets, “cold enough for ya?”

Seeing their shivering bodies and chattering teeth, Chris laughed, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. Time for Part Two of today’s challenge: capture the snow fort!”

Both teams turned to look at the two snow forts on each side of the field, one a castle and the other a shoddy camp, “To win, you have to either demolish the enemy’s fort, or capture their flag and bring it back to your own fort. Rats won the first part, so they get dibs on the forts!”

“Sh-sha-shap-easy! C-c-castle!” Lightning called through the coldness.

Scott held a hand up in interference, “Nuh-uh! G-g-gotta be a trick! Nice on the outside means _nasty_ on the inside,” he pointed to the lesser fort, “w-we’ll take the shack!”

“T-that did not j-just happened,” Gabriel muttered, him and Cameron looking to each other in disbelief. Chris egged the Maggots to the castle fort.

Once inside, the Maggots all cheered and high-fived one another. Gabriel peered outside of the fort and studied the environment. It looked to be a bit of a long distance running back and forth if they must take the Rats’ flag. Coupled with the slippery ground and water holes everywhere, this was not going to be easy.

By now, they have gotten use to the stinging cold. However, even then, there is the main challenge to worry about more.

Inside their castle fort, he spotted a pile of large snowballs and a shovel to the side. Gabriel wiggles the handle of the shovel around in the snow, digging through a bit of the snow so that it could be lodged out better. Surely they can dig up some more snow and ball them up as extra ammo if they ever run out?

“Haha! What a bunch of _suckas,”_ Anne Maria net Cameron’s hand with her own, “Maggots _rule!”_

With the three other boys on the team, Gabriel joined in their high-fiving as Brick cheered along, “Yes! This battle is so ours!”

“Yeah!” On accidental impulse, Mike slapped Brick’s left arm, which was still dislocated from earlier. The cadet yelled in pain as the spiky-haired boy immediately apologized.

From outside came Chris’s voice booming through a megaphone, “LISTEN UP, PLAYERS! HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: USE THE SHOVEL IN YOUR FORT TO FIRE YOUR COLLECTION OF MYSTERY SNOWBALLS, WHICH YOU CAN FIRE AT EACH OTHER’S FORTS!”

Gabriel wedged out the shovel and passed it on to Jo as Zoey yelled through cupped hands at Chris, “WHY ARE THEY CALLED ‘MYSTERY BALLS’?!”

“BECAUSE THEY ALL INFLICT MAJOR DAMAGE, THANKS TO THE SECRET WEAPON HIDDEN INSIDE EACH BALL!” Cameron went to touch one particular snowball, but it _hissed_ and moved on its own, “BUT SOME WILL DAMAGE _YOU!_ SO, CHOOSE WISELY. EACH TEAM HAS TO ELECT A CAPTAIN TO COMMAND AND CONQUER. STARTING...NOW!”

“ **As team captain, I say we–!** ” Jo and Brick both said at the same time. The two glared at each other as a result. The five other Maggots looked between one another in apprehension. Gabriel couldn’t say he didn’t expect this out of Jo.

“Thumb wrestle, stat!” Jo challenged. They wrestled for quite some time until the jockette eventually overpowered the cadet, going so far as to break his thumb.

“Ow!” Brick shook his hand to rid the pain and then saluted in good sportsmanship, “Never met a girl that was stronger than me, captain. Not even my mom!”

‘Will he be okay after this?’ Gabriel thought, wondering just how much Brick’s body could take being beat around like that.

Immediately, Jo took the lead as captain, “Brick, _Lazy,_ Zoey – you’re on offense! Your mission: capture the enemies flag,” she ordered the cadet, Anne Maria and Zoey to the frontlines, “the rest of us will defend the fort and fire snowballs.”

As Mike grabbed the redhead’s hand to tell her something, Gabriel and Cameron got to work. The apathetic blonde rolled some snowballs along the ground towards the catapult, building up some mass as well. He was careful to put each one in a line of order to fire.

“Hey, Gabriel?” He stopped what he was doing and paid attention to Cameron as the bubble-boy continued, “Have you ever figured out what to do about Mike and his problem? I mean, lately, he’s been doing okay, per se, but I kind of just don’t want to leave it alone for too long.”

That was a good question, Gabriel thought as he answered the small boy, “In conversation, let him slip up and mention it on his own. We don’t want to come off as obtrusive and mean, right? If that doesn’t work, we cautiously work our way around bringing it up until it becomes safe enough for him to open up about it and us to speak of.”

Smiling in fascination, Cameron nodded, “That works for me! Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a knack for this kind of stuff, right? It’s like you always know what to say and do!”

“I just think before I speak and act, that’s all there is to it. At least in my opinion, that is,” Gabriel replied in his dull way.

“And modesty, too… Wow, I’m learning a lot this summer!” The unlucky bubble-boy cheered to himself.

“HURRY UP! MY ICE IS MELTING, AND YOUR FORTS TOO IF THE SUN GETS MUCH HIGHER!” Chris announced through his mega horn.

“Hey, _Besties!_ Are you just gonna stand there and talk all day–!” Jo was saying before a snowball came and crashed into their castle’s walls. It shook at the collision as ice almost fell on their heads.

The jockette gritted her teeth and motioned forward with a hand, “Come on, people! We have to attack!”

“Can’t!” Cameron yelled while hugging the flag stuck in the snow, having ducked from the attack, “Guarding flag!”

Gabriel took the liberty of controlling the shovel-catapult. He laid a snowball on the handle and pulled back, letting it go. The ball soared high above the battlefield and travelled into the sky before landing straight down on top of the Rats’ fort. A loud bang followed after.

Jo whooped, “Yes! Now _that’s_ what I like to see the most!”

Mike cheered along with Cameron before noticing Anne Maria just standing there while spraying her hair, “Anne Maria, a-aren’t you supposed to go and capture the Rats’ flag?”

The girl scoffed as if she was offended, “I ain’t risking flyaways!”

The boys watched as Jo came up and snatched Anne Maria’s spray can and chucked it out of the fort, “No!”

Clanking on the ground, the can passed Brick and Zoey as Anne Maria hurriedly chased after it while addressing Jo all the same, “Oh, this ain’t _ova!_ Lousy Jo making me run out here!”

“Too easy,” the jockette laughed while crossing her arms. She and Gabriel continued firing snowballs at the Rats’ fort with the latter retaliating with their shots. Suddenly, Gabriel allowed Mike to take over for him and approached the entrance cautiously.

Cameron saw this but decided not to question it, already used to Gabriel’s antics. With the blonde, he observed Brick using Anne Maria as some sort of shield with her hair being as hard as steel from all the polymers and silicone in the spray.

But catching something that even made him do a double take, Gabriel waved a hand at Jo.

“Huh? What’s up?” After quickly ordering Cameron to help Mike, Jo joined Gabriel at the entrance. What made her eyes bulge from her sockets was worth it.

From atop the Rats’ fort, they witnessed B balance an ice mirror and angled it for the rising sun’s rays to hit it. Immediately, they knew what he was up to. Their castle began to melt under the strong heat of the star in the sky.

“Gotta say, a little impressed,” Jo muttered while still looking shocked.

Halting in passing Mike a ball, Cameron saw what was happening, “Guys, we’re melting!”

“We can see that, Cameron,” Gabriel said before addressing their team leader, “What do we do, captain?” He questioned.

Jo looked pensive for a second until looking back at a particular teammate of theirs, “Mike, do your ‘Svetlana’ thing and get on the catapult!”

“I-I can’t!” Mike said while clutching his head, “My personality–uh, I mean impressions are...hard to, um…”

Gabriel and Cameron met each other’s eyes at the slip-up as the latter called out, “And first up on the vault: five-time Russian champ!”

Mike gasped before his voice altered into a completely different tone, “ _Is_ _Svetlana!_ ”

He performed a stance and front flipped out of a couple of handstands. Jo held the shovel ready as Mike landed and was sent flying across the ice field, “Get the flag ‘Svetlana’!”

The Maggots watched Mike fly gracefully above the ice and pass Brick, Zoey and Anne Maria up. He then crashed into the Rats’ fort and was out of their sight. A couple of minutes later and they saw Scott being thrown from out of the snowy settlement.

Jo ran outside with the team’s shovel and began to sustain their melting base. With Cameron, another mutant beetle came from out of the snow and began jumping on his back as he screamed for his bubble.

Needless to say, the situation was completely deriving out of hand.

Gabriel moved a hand to shade his squinted eyes from the beaming sun. He then beheld Scott getting up and looking up at B’s mirror strategy. Imagine his confusion when the country boy balled up a chunk of snow and threw it at the ice block, tilting it down to free Sam from out of a case of ice.

What happened was it then reflected another large beam of sunlight and directed it straight back to the Rats’ fort. At how large and powerful it was, it immediately drained the snow and broke it down into a body of water. The ice mirror fell and clinked on the snow.

It happened so quickly before he could even register it.

Gabriel went silent as everything died down. He went to Cameron’s aid and sent a flying kick to the beetle’s face, sending it away from the melted castle. He gave the bubble-boy his hand and helped him up.

“Ooh,” Cameron groaned in pain and tiredness, “I-is it over?”

“I believe so, yes,” Gabriel answered tonelessly.

Jo came running in looking worse for wear, thumbing behind her with huge eyes, “W-What just happened out there?”

“Total Drama,” her fellow blonde explained bluntly, his eyelids halving ever so slightly. Seems as though Chris has done it yet again. His two teammates couldn’t argue with that.

The three left the fort and glanced at the form of Lightning encased in ice. Jo pinched the bridge of her nose and the two boys met Sam’s eyes with raised eyebrows. All the gamer did was shrug with a cheeky smile.

“And the Maggots win!” They heard Chris say as they came closer, “Here’s your reward: McLean-brand hot chocolate. Scald your senses with chocolate-y goodness!”

As Jo pumped a fist in victory, Gabriel and Cameron went to see what went on while they were defending the fort. All they were met with was Zoey looking a bit upset and Mike with his shirt off and a smug expression.

Both sighing in discontent, Gabriel and Cameron glanced at each other in contemplation.

Later that day, Gabriel was on his way back to his cabin from the baths.

He was approaching up to it from the side but was stopped when he heard voices. One voice spoke that sounded like Scott’s to Gabriel. Thinking on it, the blonde shuffled behind the cabins and pressed an ear close to the corner to hear in on him.

“I told you! ‘B’ stands for ‘bad man’, and Beverly is a _bad man_ ,” Scott’s voice rang out.

“I never took him for that guy, but fact-wise, it would seem he’s that guy,” he heard Sam’s voice next.

“How could you trust someone that is so secretive that he doesn’t even talk?” Scott’s words shot through Gabriel.

The blonde faced down to the ground in thought. He was thinking about himself and his place in the Maggots. He barely ever talks when someone speaks to him and rarely strikes up a conversation first on his own. Maybe what Scott said does ring some truth about some people.

People like Gabriel; people like B. 

Aren’t he and the mute the same in that regard? Could he find solace in his own helpless attitude that someone else here was just like him in some aspects? He knows B is _nothing_ like him for the majority, so he probably shouldn’t even think about doing that.

At all.

It seemed that during Gabriel’s reflection that he missed the rest of the conversation. He ducked down behind the cabins when he heard the Rats’ doors close. Gabriel narrowed and closed his eyes before returning to his cabin.

At the bonfire scene, the Rats were faced with yet another elimination ceremony. B sat at the back of the team with a worried look and sweating hands. Scott crossed his arms with an inconspicuous smirk on his face.

“After yet another jam-packed day of losing, it all comes down to this,” Chris announced with a plate of marshmallows in his hand, “The following Rats are safe…”

“Dawn… Lightning… and Scott, which leaves _Bev_ and Sam” The respective camper caught their treat and partook of it.

“At least I’m not going home first!” Sam cheered before a feminine scream was heard. A paraglider swooped downward and crashed into the gamer.

Chris scoffed as he rolled his eyes at who it was, “Ugh! I hate it when losers get all… _clingy_!”

Taking off her helmet, Dakota peered down at the big guy underneath her, “Hey, Sam!”

“Oh! Hi, Dakota! Hehe-he,” Sam replied with a small blush.

Sighing, Chris put his hands on his hips, “Dakota, you’re no longer competing! Remember?”

“I don’t care about the money! Like I need it,” the fame-monger stood up and took off her belt, “I just need, um… Close up, please!” Dakota ushered a cameraman to get a close shot of her face, “Thank you! I just need camera time! People need to see my sparkly adorableness if I want to get my own spin-off reality series!”

Chef, in a hazmat suit, grabbed Dakota by the waist with a large pincer as Chris spoke, “You know how you flew off into the sky last episode? That means you’re done! _For-e-ver!”_

“No, please! I’ll do anything!” Dakota pleases with her hands clasped.

“Listen, princess _:_ this is _my_ show!” The host proclaimed before his ringtone went off.

He answered it with a look of disinterest, “Huh?” Chris grinned at Dakota, “It’s your daddy! Hello, Mr. Milton?”

The troubling blonde smiled in hope when Chris beamed with large eyes, “How much money?!”

He hung up and pointed at her, “You’re back!” Before she could fully cheer, Chris spoke again, “As an intern!”

“An intern?! Nooo!” Chef took her away from the bonfire just like that.

The host rolled his eyes, “ _Aaand…_ the toxic marshmallow goes to…!”

Sam and B both fidgeted nervously under the tense pressure Chris put on him when the loser was officially announced, “...B!”

Looking down in disappointment, B backed away from the glowing marshmallow held out by Chef. It dropped and sunk into the dirt slowly by his feet. B silently fumed at Scott who was in front of him. Said farmer boy only grinned devilishly right back at him.

“Time for the Hurl of Shame, buddy!” Chris exclaimed. B wordlessly stood up and followed the host to the docks sadly.

Chris and the Rats all arrived to see B standing in the large catapult on the platform, “Any final words, _Beverly?_ Any words at all?”

B looked as if he wanted to say something, but something in the distance rendered to his eyes one moment. He saw Gabriel from afar back on the campground staring at him with a fist raised in the air. B’s mouth slowly curled up into a grin as he closed his eyes and raised his own fist into the air as well.

With Gabriel, his expression was still as ever as he was watching from the background, “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

Back at the Hurl of Shame, the Rats looked amazed at B’s positivity while Chris looked none the least amused, wanting something a little bit more dramatic than that, “Guess that’s better than nothing!”

Giving Chef the signal, the cook vaulted B high into the air and away from the island. B, for the first time since he was here, screamed audibly for all to hear. Chris signed the episode off and lead the remaining Rats back to camp.

Gabriel left soon after to head back to his cabin and call it a night, deep in his thoughts.

B did not deserve what had came for him. Scott had no idea that the stoic blonde saw first hand at what really happened back in the ice challenge, and he plans to keep it that way.

Let it slowly build up on its own, and then break it all down when the moment is right.

“I refuse to let this slide,” he muttered to himself with a dark expression, very different than his usual blank exterior.


	4. Chapter 4

Under the night sky’s moonlight and amidst the chirping crickets, Chris stood at the docks with a lit candle in one hand, “Last time on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island! Twelve bumbling buffoons battled it out in a brutal buffet of  _ bombastica!” _

Chris smiled and continued, “Why all the ‘b’ words? Because B proved he was a brave and brilliant improviser who scored big time for his team, until his bitter teammate Scott botched it up on purpose, and B got the boot.”

“And now, tonight’s challenge is about  _ fear! _ And everyone knows that fear is a dish best served,” an evil grin stretched across Chris' face, “in the  _ DARK!  _ MWAHAHAHA–huh?”

The host turned around to see Chef dressed in a peacock-themed bikini, finished with a bushy tail made of feathers, “ _ Chef-fuh!” _

Grumbling under his breath, the camp’s cook looked off to the side in frustration, “Wardrobe is all out of vampire costumes…”

Chris glared at Chef dressed in his embarrassing apparel before looking back at the main camera, grinning, “It’s all scary, other than  _ that! _ Right here, on Total. Drama. Revenge of the Island!”

After the intro to the new episode finished, Chris brushed his hands off in pride, “Nailed it.”

“Now, moving on with you,” Chris went neutral as he turned his body to face Gabriel, who was standing completely out of shot all this time. He was dressed in his normal attire, despite it being late out.

Gabriel crossed his arms with a tilted head and a frown, “...What is the matter this time?”

“I’m  _ getting _ to that,” Chris frowned before continuing to explain, “there was another phone call at HQ… right in the middle of my dinner time, no less! It was from the same person who had called last time.”

Meanwhile, Chef was standing back as he wanted no part of what Chris was telling Gabriel as the host resumed, “That person, who I’ll reveal right now is your father, made a pretty big accusation of you. One that is  _ ‘ultimately for the best,’ _ as he so kindly put it.”

Something struck like thunder in Gabriel’s head at the revelation, “For the best? What could he possibly have said to you?”

Chris crossed his arms behind his back, “He said that,  _ ‘Gabriel will choose elimination on his own accord, should the situation ever present itself,’ _ before hanging up. That’s pretty weird, huh?”

The blonde kept quiet with his eyes shut. Eerily quiet. Chris and Chef were put off by how still and speechless Gabriel was being. They both flinched as the wayward teen opened his eyes and turned around, away from them.

“I gotta ask, is he right?” Chris inquired with a raised eyebrow. Never in this show’s history has the Total Drama team had something like this happen to them. The producers weren’t kidding when they said this kid was a breath of fresh air.

It honestly frightened him more so than tonight’s challenge.

The silent blonde recovered from his thoughts and began walking back to camp, “...Guess that’s for all of us to find out eventually,” Gabriel responded before leaving the docks.

Chef crossed his arms with an eyebrow raised at Gabriel’s retreating back, “That is  _ one _ strange kid.”

“Yeah, you can say that again, ol’ buddy,” Chris added before shrugging and shining one of his grins, “but he’s awesome for the ratings, so it all works out! On with the show, and get out of that ridiculous thing!”

Chef rolled his eyes at Chris’s usual behavior returning as the two arrived in front of the team cabins. There, they met Dakota in her red intern shirt as a crop top with the ends tied in a knot at her waist. When Chris gave her a thumbs up, she plugged in one ear and sounded off an air horn.

Shouting, Chris waved both of his arms in the air for added effect, “RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

In a frantic manner, all of the remaining contestants bursted out of their dorms. Jo pushed past some people, Zoey and a few others screamed, and Sam lagged behind with Cameron.

Gabriel was the only one unaffected as he had just finished talking with Chris several minutes ago, knowing all of this to be apart of a challenge. He did run along with the others in an act of panic as to not stir any suspicion, especially with Jo.

As soon as everyone was accounted for, Chris signaled Dakota to stop and grinned, “Thanks, intern!”

Dakota opened her eyes, “HUH?” She yelled.

Next to Gabriel in the group, Sam’s face lit up with joy at seeing her, “Hey, Dakota! Ehehe…”

“WHAT?” The ex-camper, turned intern shouted with her face cringing, “SPEAK UP!”

Pushing Dakota out of the way was Chef with a large map board. Chris addressed his cast with gusto, “Challenge time!”

“In the middle of the night? Where it’s all...you know…  _ dark?”  _ Brick asked with a very worried look on his face.

His teammates on the Maggots glanced at him, each with their own thoughts and confusion. Jo crossed her arms in a judging manner, looking at him sideways in disappointment. Scott was heard snickering lightly into his hand.

Gabriel merely kept quiet, finding it not to be in his place to criticize anyone on whatever they struggle with. Those are the worst kinds of people who do so. He hated them all almost indefinitely.

“Your challenge: A scavenger hunt for three creepy souvenirs,” Chris went on to explain the challenge to them, “your locations: a haunted forest, a  _ scary _ pet cemetery, and an extra spook- _ tastic _ cave. First team to each location gets a special clue. But watch out for booby traps – I  _ really  _ went to town with ‘em! Hehehe!”

Chris pointed to different landmarks identifying the three locations on the board along with several green skulls indicating the mentioned booby traps. The campers dreaded this day more and more as he went on. Gabriel saw Brick sweating buckets.

“So, move fast! And stick  _ together. _ You’ll be penalized for each member you lose,” Chris emphasized with a finger raised.

The fourteenth camper heard Cameron from in front of him speak up in unease and pointed at a particular symbol on the map, “Um, what does the spider represent?”

McLean hummed and waved it off as if it’s nothing to worry about, “Oh, yeah. Just some sort of gigantic, mutated spider running loose around the island.”

Like a bomb going off, uproars of fear and panic rose up from the contestants. Cameron’s teeth chattered as his eyes grew big behind his round glasses. He then felt a pat on his shoulder and turned to see it was Gabriel giving him a…tiny smile?

Cameron froze at the grinning blonde, not believing it for second until it went away as Gabriel spoke to him with his blank tone, “So long as we make certain to stick together, you haven’t a thing to be afraid of.”

“WHAT’S ON THE LOOSE?!” Dakota screamed above the noise of scared teens.

“A GIGANTIC, MUTATED SPIDER!” Sam got close to her ear and shouted.

Chris held Dakota’s air horn in the air, “There’s nothing to fear but mortal terror itself! Talk soon,” he blared the horn towards the sky and the two teams were off running in the woods.

Once inside, the Rats took off ahead of the Maggots. Gabriel heard Chris’s voice over an intercom, but it was a bit indecipherable from where his team was way behind.

“Book it, people!” Jo commanded, taking charge of them once again.

Cameron huffed, trying his best to stay with the group. Anne Maria was already growing tired from running in her high shoes. Mike and Zoey were keeping up somewhat, both with large breaths. Being the more fit and athletic of the team, Gabriel, Jo and Brick were the ones to lead the rest at the front.

“Hey, how come you never run with me and Jo in the morning? You’re pretty fast!” Brick said to Gabriel, complementing the quiet blonde’s speed.

Before Gabriel can answer him, Jo pinched Brick on the arm, “Are you seriously creating small talk during the heat of a challenge?” The cadet yelped at the shock through his bicep.

Sprinting after the Rats some more, they finally caught up with one another at the Haunted Forest. Gabriel spotted Lightning with his arm caught in a bear trap and a slip of paper in Dawn’s hands.

“Well, well, well… What do we have here?” Jo said with a smirk.

At seeing Gabriel, Dawn meekly waved at him with her fingers as she smiled. The dark blond boy acknowledged her greeting and nodded back at her in his usual idle way. Unknown to Gabriel, Mike and Zoey saw their exchange and looked at each other while smiling knowingly.

“Hey, find your own piece of paper!” Lightning yapped, leaning forward.

Jo laughed and turned back to her team, “Come on. Let the  _ Runts _ have their clue. I’ve got a plan!”

After some more running, the Maggots stopped in front of some tall trees and bushes as Gabriel slowly turned to question Jo, “Mind telling us this big plan of yours?”

“Find a place to hide, so we can follow the Rats,  _ and _ their clue, to our first souvenir!” Jo explained with a competitive demeanor.

_ ‘And just when I thought she couldn’t get any more petty,’  _ Gabriel mused in thought. As serious and dedicated Jo is to this game, he would think she would take a more consequential approach in order to win.

Jo pointed somewhere in front of them, “Into that bush!” Following her, the Maggots all crammed into the leaves with some outcries and complaints about it being too tight and without any room.

Cameron accidentally jammed his elbow into Gabriel’s side and reacted immediately, “My bad, whoever that was!”

“Hush. The Rats are approaching,” Gabriel said as the Maggots grew quiet when their rival team came walking along the path.

Gabriel could hear Dawn’s voice read from the slip of paper in her hands, “Inside a knot is a nest. You’re souvenir lives with a pest! Find Polaris to travel northwest… Polaris is the North Star!”

“The North Star is right there, so this way’s northwest. There’s the path,” Scott said. Their footsteps followed after, a sign that they’ve already left.

Inside the bush, Jo grunted as she tried to untangle herself from some thin branches, “They’re getting away! After them!”

With some effort, Gabriel pushed and rolled backwards out of the bush. He got up and dusted himself off from some leaves and twigs caught in his hair and clothes. Brushing his sleeves off, he backpedalled accidentally into a branch on the ground and stepped on it, making it snap loudly.

He heard Brick’s voice from inside the bush, “W-who’s there?!”

“It’s just me, Brick,” Gabriel said, stepping into his line of view. Just then, an owl hooted in the distance and created a loud echo throughout the forest. The blonde noted Brick’s eyes growing big in panic and quickly tried to ease him.

“Whatever you do, Brick, stay–!”

“Aaaah!” The cadet ducked back into the leaves and stood up, taking the entire shrub with their team still stuck in there. He ran off without a second thought down the trail, leaving Gabriel all by himself.

“...calm,” the lone blonde finished lamely. Gabriel realized that he was now stranded in the middle of the woods at night with a mutant spider on the loose, along with other equally mutated monstrosities.

Sighing quietly to himself, Gabriel’s arms lowered at his sides, “Fantastic…”

More owls hooted in the treetops all around the blonde’s vicinity. Gabriel studied the eerily still and quiet environment surrounding him. Hardening his mind and body, he moved on the path that the Rats and Brick took minutes before.

Walking for several long minutes, the blonde felt as if he was seeing things. The path began to contort and twist in Gabriel’s eyes. He shook his head and continued in a straight line, not letting the thought of him being on his own mess with his sense of reality. That could happen fairly easily and will trip someone up if they’re not too careful.

But to his growing concern, the path insisted and spiraled more out of control. It was completely screwing with his vision and movement. He stopped and leaned his hand on a tree nearby to get a hold of himself. Blinking his eyes rapidly, it irked him to see the floor also twisting and turning underneath his feet.

Gabriel backed away and fell on his backside. His breathing was beginning to race and his throat running dry. The blonde gently rolled on his side and propped his arms up on the ground from under him. All around him was like a spinning vortex.

Whatever is happening to him was increasing ever so greatly that Gabriel began to hear random sounds and voices. Was this his mind playing tricks on him as a side effect of being left astray out in the woods? Is he going through some type of hallucination? Was it the chemical pollutants in the air?

He always thought himself to be a fairly calm and collected person. Yet, he was still human. He still possessed weaknesses like any other. Weaknesses that appear to trigger really easily such as being alone at night amidst a toxic wasteland with no form of protection.

What if he never finds his way back? What if he is the one that will cost his team the challenge? What if he’s the one to go next?

...

...What if _he_ was right?

He was rambling. His thoughts were getting all jumbled together – something they never do. Gabriel gripped the sides of his face and banged his head softly on the tree bark. Taking a long breather, he slowly raised his head and stared at the dark skin of the trunk.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Gabriel chided himself in his blah tone. Now gaining his bearings back, his expression steeled and reverted to its default  aloofness again before he decided to move once more.

Everything was back to normal, fortunately. The imagery of the dark forest was straight and clear as day. Gabriel breathed in and out steadily ever so often so as to make sure his little episode wouldn't occur again. He also kept his footing balanced and narrowed as best he could.

As he was firmly calm now, Gabriel’s head was also clear. 

Him being alone out here really made that small talk with Cameron just for show. Deep down, he genuinely felt that he let himself and the bubble-boy down. Which is why he has to make it back to the Maggots as soon as possible.

Gabriel stopped and narrowed his eyes a little bit down. His gaze upturned at the tall trees stabbing the night sky. An ominous breeze flew across the atmosphere, ruffling his swept bangs to the right. Gabriel heard scuttling noises inside the many bushes and shrubs in the area.

Now noticing something else that was quite off, he looked down cautiously. What he was standing in the middle of was a perfect clearing. The forestry made a perfect outline of a huge circle with him smack dab in the center.

“...Not good,” he muttered to himself. A twig snap was heard and, on complete instinct, Gabriel whipped his head to the side while bending down in a crouch stance.

The leaves belonging to a group of trees parted in half. Loud thumping footsteps were heard very well by Gabriel. In a moment's notice, a sharp blur sped fast by Gabriel, who dodged instantaneously, and embedded into another tree.

Gabriel saw that it was a wooden spear with a finely sharpened tip. His head rotated fifty degrees as his eyes met with the very large figure that stood on hind legs. The eight foot beast loomed over some trees and tall bushes, directly overhead of Gabriel.

It was a Canadian black bear, but it was another mutant. The bear had long claws on its front and back paws, rough black fur like carpet material, and glowing green eyes. Most distinguishable of the giant bear was the large grey rock shell on its back acting like some kind of armor, most likely due to the chemical products.

As his pupils dilated, Gabriel hurriedly cartwheeled out of the way of a backhand by the bear. He started to run circles around the mutant and jumped over more backhanded swipes, narrowly avoiding those knives for claws. 

Returning to his original position, Gabriel wiggled the spear out of the tree. He faced the bear and had to weave left and right to evade a few rounds of punches. Gabriel timed it just right to sneak a shot in, stabbing the bear’s right paw with the makeshift weapon.

While the mutant bear growled at the sharp pain through its palm, the blonde escaped out of there like a bat out of hell. Gabriel could hear the wild beast giving chase to him. Thinking fast, he grabbed onto a hanging vine and swung up on top of a high branch in a tree, making sure to cut the vine off so the bear wouldn’t get any ideas.

He took back what he said about these trees several days ago before the trivia challenge. Right now, they’re saving his life.

Peering down from up top, Gabriel saw the bear come close to his tree. It stood on its hind legs and sniffed at the air, obviously tracking for his scent. 

It knew that Gabriel was in the tree.

After a few minutes of it locating Gabriel, the mutated mammal oddly decided to stay and lay down underneath where Gabriel was hiding.

_ ‘...’ _ Gabriel was winded. Leave it up to his bad luck to find some awful way to screw with him.

Minute after minute, Gabriel waited with the patience of a saint for the bear to make some sort of movement. However, because for some reason, it did not make any attempt to leave. The blonde was beginning to wonder if this was another one of Chris’s god-awful means to make the challenge more interesting.

He must say, it was more interesting for him than it was for the viewers at home. Not in a good way, Gabriel added. He knew for sure that this was being taped live, as there were many cameras in the wide forest for the challenges.

His head gently rested against the trunk behind him, forcing his eyes to glare at the high moon in the sky. Judging by its positioning, Gabriel surmised that it was around twelve in the morning. Pretty soon, it’s going to get darker than this if this situation of his does not work out.

Gabriel glanced down at the spear in his hand. He rolled it a bit and twirled it in between his fingers, doing some tricks with it. Holding it up in front of his face, his eyes trailed the long body of...six feet that was almost as big as the damned monster beneath him.

Carefully, Gabriel pulled the spear upward from underneath his thigh and snapped it in a perfect pair. Setting down the front end with the head, he took the back end and, borrowing a page from his own book, broke another sharp piece of bark from the tree. He got to scraping the front of the second stick where it broke off from the first.

Humming at his handiwork, Gabriel got up to kneel on the thick trunk. He now wielded a pair of short spears – one in each hand. Crouch-walking along the branch, he bore down on the sleeping giant that was lying down on its stomach with its back turned to him.

_ ‘Perfect,’  _ Gabriel thought. Without a second thought, and with zero patience left in the tank, the blonde dropped down and punctured the nape of the bear with his melee spears, just an inch above where the shell armor ended.

As he expected, the mutant giant jerked from its sleep and stood up straight and tall. It flailed around in pain, throwing his front forward to try and get Gabriel off of it. The blonde was stubborn, however, and hung on to the rock shell on it back. He clung on to the edge of it and rode it like it was a wild and angry bull.

Despite his relentless efforts, who would eventually win in a deep struggle: A lone human with barely any protection, or a genetically mutated vertebrate with the strength of a hundred men?

The bear thrashed some more and finally ripped Gabriel off of it, throwing and bashing the dark blonde in the face. Gabriel was sent flying away and slammed into a large and jutting boulder from out of the ground. His breathing got caught in his throat as he fell and hit the floor hard.

Gabriel lifted himself from the grass, grunting in the exertion. He gagged slightly and spit out a small wad of blood. Wiping his mouth off, he noticed that there was dirt and grass stains all over his sleeve, most likely from wiping his face off.

Still with his short spears in hand, Gabriel closed his eyes in focus and revealed them again to enter into another stance. With enough mind to understand the gesture, the bear roared and rushed at him on all fours. The air grew stagnant and chill as the monster closed the gap between it and Gabriel.

Jumping off of one foot, Gabriel sidestepped and flipped over a clawed punch. He acted quick in his moves and pierced its right arm with one of his spears, leaving it lodged perfectly in the tough skin. Not allowing himself a breath, Gabriel scaled the rock armor again and struck the back of the bear’s head with a hard punch of his own.

The bear was knocked forward, letting Gabriel jump at the opening and flip over the mutant. Rolling over its head, the wayward teen stabbed it between the eyes with his second spear. He stunned it, which left another wide opening for Gabriel.

Taking back his first spear, he rushed at it and speared it to the ground with his own body. Gabriel took his weapon and stuck them on the side of the bear’s head, cutting the temples open. His hands then grabbed on to the bear’s full snout and took the upper and lower halves in his grasp.

“Mother Nature, look away,” Gabriel offered one final say before snapping back the mouth of the bear, disabling its jaws. Finally, he took one of his spears and plunged it straight in the center of the monster’s chest, twisting and jerking it sideways to hit the core inside.

Taking in large amounts of oxygen, Gabriel rolled off of the bear and hit the floor again. His face was all scratched up with bruises, bloody cuts and wounds. Sweat drenched his white undershirt around the collar and made his skin feel sticky and gross underneath his clothes.

He did it. He didn’t know how he did it, but he was not going to question it.

Gabriel thought for sure, with the way things decided to play out after his team left him, that tonight would be his last. If he wasn’t careful enough, that is. Now with this bear attack over and done with, he’s not leaving this forest the same.

He felt something sting at his eyes at the corners, but he assumed it was his sweat dripping from his forehead. The breeze from earlier returned, and did he need it now more than ever. Gabriel finally calmed down and rested there on the grass, this relaxing feeling sinking deep in his gut.

“The pain you feel today... is the strength… you feel tomorrow,” Gabriel said between breaths, more so to himself than anyone else.

Which makes sense, because he’s all alone.

_ ‘...’  _ Gabriel’s mind stopped. Slowly, he raised his upper body from the ground and made to stand up. He didn’t care for his tired body telling him to stop right now. Thinking for a second, he took his spears and sheathed them inside his jacket.

Looking around, he headed straight into a narrow path made by the towering trees. The trail must be around here somewhere. Just laying there on the ground would get him nowhere. He was pretty sure his team must’ve gotten some progress done in the challenge while he was busy.

There’s just a matter of finding them next. He still knew there was that spider Chris mentioned, but he’s for certain that it couldn’t be any worse than that bear back there. After that, Gabriel figured that nothing could frighten him now.

“...Why did I go and think that?” He croaked through his hoarse voice. Approaching some more trees, he entered the crevices of the bushes and was careful to step over fallen branches and twigs.

Pushing past some branches sticking out from his face, he found the moon’s light leaking from an opening through some thick trees. Making way towards it, he stepped out onto a trail. He sighed in relief and began to follow it up a steep hill.

Arriving at the end, he found a cavern with the Rats and Maggots’ flags on either side of the entrance. Gabriel recognized this place as the last one of the major landmarks of the challenge, remembering the board from the beginning.

Gabriel entered the cave, making it in with only two steps before stepping back out. It was as dark as the forest inside there. A flashlight or torch should do him good, but he was without either.

If this was the last part of the challenge, then that means, “There must’ve been flashlights or something handed out to us,” and yet, he skipped the pet cemetery completely because he lost his team and a mutant bear was chasing him around in the woods.

Mustering up anything in his head, he dug inside his jacket and pulled out one of his spears. His eyelids halved in thought before leaving right quick. He came back with a bundle of dry grass, leaves, brown wood from a fallen log, 

Cutting his spear with more bark to make a fire board, Gabriel placed it down above some extra wood. With a neat little tinder nest and following along a few more steps in his head, the blonde rubbed what was left of his spear to create some friction.

“...” Gabriel said nothing, continuing to rub on the board until the tip of his spear built up some smoke and finally conjured up a stream of fire.

His eyes narrowed from the heat as he stuck the spear’s end to catch some fire. Stepping out the fire as to not cause a spread, Gabriel entered the cave again. Now he could see much clearer, but only in a little bubble around him.

“HEEEELP!” Walking a few more feet into the cavern, Gabriel could hear a shrill scream that sounded like it belonged to Zoey.

Running fast and towards another corridor, he stumbled into a rather interesting scene. Entangled in a large web way above near the cave’s ceiling were the Rats and a few of his Maggot teammates. Mike was without a shirt and accompanied by Anne Maria.

What garnered a lot more of his attention, however, was the gigantic mutant spider. It was there, making its way crawling near Cameron and Zoey who were closest to it. 

He felt his mind begin to melt at the absurdity of the situation, “...How did this progress?”

“GABRIEL!” Cameron yelled with tears of joy at discovering his friend had finally returned to them, alive and breathing.

“Thank goodness!” Dawn shouted next as her eyes lit up in glee. A wave of relief immediately went through her at the sight of a still perfectly capable Gabriel.

“Wha–! Who?! Is that  _ Gabe?!” _ Jo asked in a loud voice. Not only was her body restricted, but her eyes were blinded by the spider’s webbing as well.

Seeing who had also arrived at the scene, the spider hissed and leaped from the wall. Everyone stuck to the web was telling him to run and dodge. Gabriel watched as the spider fired its web at him. His fellow competitors all screamed and yelled for him to move.

The dark blonde shut them up by raising a hand in front of him and letting the string of web stick in the middle of his palm. Gabriel caught it and twirled the web around him as he spiraled sideways in the air in a frontflip. Because of this, the spider was pulled towards him and was rammed into an arched kick from Gabriel. The webbing tore from the blunt attack.

“I’ve just about had enough of you mutant scum tonight,” Gabriel snapped in his boring tone, looking apathetically at the mutated arachnid.

Gasping, the other campers beared witness to the fourteenth contestant driving a short spear into the back of the spider. He picked up the spider with a foot like a soccer ball and spun around to deliver a rounded kick to its abdomen with the other. It went flying until it slammed into a wall, the vibration setting free a stalactite to come crashing down and trapping it.

“Sha-DANG!” Lightning exclaimed, having seen the short scuffle. Everyone else was rendered speechless at how quickly that ended, with the outcome in favor of Gabriel.

“What? What’s happening?! Why is everyone suddenly so quiet?!” Jo asked rapidly, wiggling around in her web cocoon.

Gabriel turned his head to address one of his freed teammates, falling to his knees in a tired finale, “Mike, get them down from there. Use whatever you have to in order to.”

“U-uh, yeah! Sure thing,” the brunette boy replied, already climbing the wall. In the middle of his struggle to scale it, ‘Svetlana’ was triggered and helped Mike to jump straight at the web, stepping on Brick and tearing him free in the process.

The cadet looked dizzy but shrugged it off in favor of his team, “Hang on, men! I’m coming to get you!”

“No! Get the hook,  _ Dampy Pants!”  _ Jo shouted from her spot.

“I need to rescue my teammates,” Brick insisted with a determined face.

“You  _ need _ to win! Somebody has to,” the Maggots’ very own jockette argued.

Brick shrugged with a worried, “But my code! I can’t just leave you all behind, especially not after what Gabriel just did!”

“Who cares what  _ Gabe _ did, just listen to me! Cut and run, soldier! That’s an order!” Jo shouted in a commander’s voice.

She finally got through to him as the cadet ran for the hooks inside the statue, “Sir, yes, sir!”

Gabriel saw Brick ran for a long rope descending into another part of the cavern. Sam and Scott were right behind him, following him on the zip line. Gabriel heard the echoing shouts of terror from all three of them.

Spear in hand, Gabriel went to go help his team and the Rats down. But a rumble in the area halted him before he could move. He looked up and found that the ceiling was shaking and the stalactites were, too. Gabriel mustered up whatever energy he had to spare and booked it, diving behind a pillar to avoid any falling debris.

Along with the ceiling came the web as well, setting the capture campers free. They all groaned with Mike being the verbal one, “What happened?”

When Gabriel was helping Cameron up, the bubble-boy took notice of his banged up face now that he was up close, “Oh my gosh! Gabriel, what happened to you?!”

The other went to see what was wrong and all cringed at the sight of Gabriel’s bloody face and muddy clothes, “Is that why you went missing all of a sudden?” Mike asked worriedly.

Licking his dry lips, Gabriel turned to face the ground, “There was some inconvenience with a freak of nature.”

“Freak of nature?” Dawn inquired, not liking the sound of that at all. It didn’t help that it banged up poor Gabriel’s face.

“A mutant black bear,” the Maggots’ stoic member answered more specifically.

Multiple eyes blinked in shock as Zoey yelled next, “And you survived?!  _ How _ ?!”

“I slaughtered it, how else?” Gabriel asked in genuine confusion. To his knowledge, there was no escape back there in those woods, so there was no other choice for him. It was like a completely closed off section from the entirety of the Island.

No one dared to speak until Jo pointed at his outfit smartly, “That would explain the blood on your clothes.”

“I’m just so glad you’re okay, Gabriel!” Dawn expressed with a smile and clasped hands. Gabriel turned to her with one of his idle looks as the moonchild turned around and ducked her head with a flushing face.

Off to the side, they heard pained grunts from underneath the fallen rocks. Gabriel went over and dug at the rocks up till uncovering the spider he had defeated. Or...not exactly the spider he had defeated.

Behind the blonde, everyone gasped in surprise at the familiar face. It was one of the original cast members of Total Drama. Izzy, they think.

“Uhh… Boo! Hahaha!” Izzy, laid out in the tattered spider costume, laughed in her iconic crazy manner.

Gabriel stood back up and turned to the others with a straight face. All shrugged and slowly left the cavern, leaving anyone else to deal with the psychotic redhead.

After meeting back up with Chris, the Maggots found that they had lost the challenge. Jo was very upset – something that didn’t surprise anyone. Gabriel kept quiet to himself, only thinking about what could possibly happen now.

Later at the bonfire site, the Maggots all sat at the tree stumps with Chris in front of them as any other time, “Team Maggots! Welcome to your first elimination ceremony!”

Gabriel noticed how distraught Zoey was looking while she was hugging her legs close to her as Chris continued, “And  _ mmm! _ This tension is so  _ delish,  _ I could kiss someone!”

“Not you, Mike. We all know where those lips have been,” Gabriel glanced at Mike who was looking embarrassed while eyeing Anne Maria next to him. The girl wasn’t ashamed at all.

“But hey! Maybe Brick and Jo wanna kiss and make up?” The aforementioned duo looked heated at one another, not able to stand each other’s presence.

_ ‘...I seem to have missed a lot more than I figured,’  _ Gabriel speculated. He glanced at Cameron who waved a hand, mouthing to him that he’ll explain it all later.

Chris leaned forward mockingly, “Didn’t think so!” He then began to see that Chef was nowhere to be found in his hazmat suit, “Where’s Chef with the Marshmallow of Loserdom?”

Next to Gabriel, Brick stood up with a closed fist to his heart, “Permission to speak? I volunteer for elimination! I don’t deserve to stay. I did not follow my own code!”

“Huh. No kidding,  _ Sir Leaks-a-Lot,”  _ Jo piped up with one of her zingers.

_ ‘You’re the one who’s at fault here. It’s like you wanted to lose,’  _ Gabriel thought, internally chiding Jo on her poor leadership skills.

Brick got in her face, “So I’m afraid of the dark? That’s what night vision goggles are for!” He then pointed in between her eyes, “You’d never make it in my squadron!”

All Jo did as a retort was yawn, forcing Chris to take matters into his own hands, “At ease, soldier. Tonight’s eliminated Maggot is tomorrow’s new Rat!”

“So, I’m not taking the Hurl of Shame?” Brick asked, confused. Unbeknownst to everyone, Gabriel side-eyed his team with an unknown gleam in his look.

“Nope! From here on out, Brick and Jo will be battling it out on opposing teams!” Chris revealed.

Sans Gabriel, every Maggot gasped at the revelation with Jo giving the standard, “Lame.”

_ ‘Is this his way of attempting to try and balance the game out?’ _ Gabriel thought while eyeing Chris next. With Brick apparently switching teams, the Rats now have five and the Maggots are left with six. Still a slightly tilted ratio of members, but a more suitable situation for both sides.

Gabriel’s vote was for Brick... He was still a bit bitter about being left behind by the young cadet.

“Thank you, sir! I won’t ignore the code again, sir!” The passionate cadet saluted with a relieved expression.

Chris looked bummed, propping his elbow on the podium with his chin in his palm, “Whatever. Kind of disappointed no one’s going for a catapult ride, thought.”

As if on cue, Dakota came into shot with an empty water bottle, “I finished filling your toilets with spring water!”

Noticing Chris’s elated grin from out of nowhere, the blonde intern appeared nervous, “What?”

While Chris ushered the Maggots and Brick out of the bonfire scene and left with Dakota to the docks, Gabriel was busy wiping a clean towel over his still tainted face and skin. Blood splotches covered the cloth immediately like it was sensitive to the rubbing.

“You know, Gabriel,” said blonde turned to Cameron beside him who was beaming at him, “I’m sure that fight with the bear is only going to make you stronger! I’m pretty sure no one here would have the guts to even bother with it.”

_ ‘...He’s trying to cheer me up,’  _ Gabriel thought, “I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

“And that spider that turned out to be a fake? Watching you beat it to a pulp made me get over my arachnophobia,” Cameron then cringed and brought his hands together, “although I’m extremely terrified of Izzy now…”

“I see,” taking a second to look around at the people around him, Gabriel turned back to his small friend, “why is it that I detect some turmoil between the team?”

Cameron’s grin soon diminished at seeing Mike and Zoey not up for conversation anytime soon, “Well, err… how should I put this?”

The two fell back a bit behind the group before the bubble-boy continued quietly, “I believe it has something to do with Mike’s issue. It got in the way with him and Zoey, and it messed them up big time. She caught Mike kissing Anne Maria down in the cave, although I’m positively sure that it wasn’t Mike at the time.”

“...That it was one of his personalities, right?” Gabriel asked in his stoic tone.

“Mhm. Now Zoey is upset with Mike and isn’t too comfortable around him anymore. He seems to deeply regret it and wants to make it up to her in anyway he can, and fast, before it gets out of hand even more,” Cameron finished.

Gabriel crossed his arms with his head tilted to the side, “Mike’s sure caught himself in a bit of a bind, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” the little bubble-boy agreed wholeheartedly.

The two grew silent for a while, none making a sound. Gabriel stole a glimpse at Cameron after wiping a bit more of his face off.

He eventually broke the silence with his following sentence, “Cameron, I wanted to apologize for what happened back there in the forest.”

“Huh?!” The boy in question said dumbly, “Why do you need to apologize? You haven’t done anything.”

“For not sticking with the group,” Gabriel looked ahead at the cabins closing in, “all that talk I said beforehand about wanting to stay close to one another – like raindrops, they fell going unheard.”

“I heard them,” Cameron replied while narrowing his eyes at his friend, “it was because of those words that I held through for most of the challenge, despite my fears. Besides, you found your way back to us! That’s more than we could ask of you.”

Gabriel took a moment to digest those words. He mistook Cameron’s judgement as a false misconception his mind played on him back there in the forest. Truthfully, he was a little impressed at how bold Cameron has come to be only two weeks into the show.

And now that boldness is showing in his desire to help Mike through whatever he’s going through. Now with Brick gone, it was the three of them for the Maggot boys. They definitely need to stick together from now on.

Facing the younger boy again, Gabriel nodded graciously, “Thank you for that. Truly.”

“Anytime!” Cameron stated, glad he could finally help Gabriel in return for all those other times prior when he helped him.


	5. Chapter 5

No one hands you anything in life. Luck doesn’t exist, only effort and hard work. Gabriel believed this to be definitely true.

Society has manifested an incorrect idea by implying that through creating a personality or a plan and putting it on display through the media or other ways we can be wealthy and popular in a brief time. We’ve severely lost the value of hard work.

We assume that making a living with hard work constantly is nonsense, and we fantasize of winning the lottery based on the forgery, the ruse, or in the absence of dignity toward ourselves or toward others.

A lot of us want that breath of fame, that daunting moment that makes those who desire for it get it all in a single instant, get earthly things. They want everything momentary because they want everything quick. However, what is assured is that the grandest successes are polished with the giving of time.

Hard work is excellence, Gabriel learned that the rough way; striving to do great things every second with optimism, with the ambition to still fight day in and day out by reaching our goals; being alert to the errors we make and discovering opportunities, despite that one time we’ve grinded extra, that is respectability and effort.

People can’t be disciplining the impression that things can be earned easily, because everything has a cost, and understanding that everything is attained with hard work is one of the strongest messages that we can undergo at any time.

It’s like the planting of a seed, that with the movement of time we have to saturate and tend to, so that in the exact moment it will provide us with its crop. Hard work is the accomplice of inspiration and diligence, not of negligence and apathy.

“ **_Our reward is in the effort and not in the result. A complete effort is a complete victory,_ ** as Gandhi once put it,” Gabriel said, wiping his face off with a white towel.

It was a few days later after the scavenger hunt challenge. This meant that tomorrow is going to be another challenge day for the Maggots and Rats. But it also meant there was going to be another elimination, if it’s nothing like last time with Brick and the switching of players.

“...Will it be someone from our team next?” Gabriel wondered to himself aloud behind the cloth, already planning on not being that someone.

Right now, Gabriel was over by the ocean shore, cleaning himself off. His face was still a bit roughed up from the bear attack. Now he knew the sort of rushing thrill that Cody went through back in season one, but contrary to the geek, he made it out with nothing but a few scrapes and bruises.

Speaking of Cody, Gabriel’s mind wandered to the past competitors. He had seen them on their very own yacht at the beginning when him and his fellow cast mates were arriving to the show, only for them to pass up the island. He also remembered Izzy and how she was the mutant spider monster all along in the previous challenge.

Was that part of the producers’ plan all along? Did they hire her as some kind of cameo to be apart of a challenge, or has she always been here? Chris never did clear that up with them since that day.

Gabriel heard footsteps sinking into the sand behind him and as he turned his head to see who it was, he faced them fully, “Hello, Cameron.”

“Gabriel,” Cameron greeted with a grin, sitting cross-legged with his blonde friend, “I have to show this to you. It’s pretty cool!”

“What is?” The bubble-boy handed Gabriel a thick notebook. He opened it and thumbed through the pages, green eyes scanning the lines that were chock-full of detailed and analytic text and pictures.

This book was a comprehensive study of Mike’s dissociative identity disorder.

Gabriel and Cameron had their guesses on what Mike’s problem could have been. A multiple personality disorder was the ultimate choice. When it was all making sense to them, Gabriel and Cameron were immensely bothered by how much stress Mike could be going through.

As Gabriel was skimming through the book still, Cameron’s smile broadened, “What do you make of it? I’ve been working on it for the past couple of days.”

“It certainly is...  _ interesting,” _ Gabriel muttered, frowning at the sketch of a brain cut into four sections in big quadrants.

“Yeah! It only gets better once you find out how exactly it all works,” the small boy exclaimed, taking his book back from the blond teen.

Stoic eyes bore into Cameron’s, “And this is fascinating to you?”

Cameron shuddered at the toneless but hinting way Gabriel put his sentence to be, “W-well, not in a good way! I’m obviously very concerned for Mike’s well-being, honestly! It’s just…”

An uncomfortable silence reigned on them for a split second until Gabriel alleviated it, “I understand just how amazing this is, but you also have to understand that this is not all fun and games. There are serious complications that follow regarding Mike’s problem, such as self-harm, and, forgive my bluntness, suicide.”

Cameron flinched at Gabriel’s normally stoic voice through his speech, “Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m fully aware of that. Mike is struggling, so I want to help him. And that’s exactly what this,” Cameron tapped his book with his finger, “is for.”

Gabriel took a minute before nodding at his small friend, rinsing and wringing the water out of his towel, “My apologies. It wasn’t my intention to make things awkward.”

“That’s okay. I understand what you were getting at,” Cameron kindly spoke, clutching his book to his chest tightly.

Shaking the sand off of the towel, Gabriel folded it and tucked it away in his jacket. He stood up and twisted his body around in a stretch, followed by Cameron. The dark blonde winced and held his side gently with his hand.

“How are your wounds treating you? Are the bandages and ointment helping okay?” Cameron asked, having noticed Gabriel tensing up from the pain.

“They’re gradually healing much better with your medical care, for the most part. Thank you, by the way,” Gabriel said, arching his back from sitting down for too long.

Cameron nodded and scratched his cheek when beginning again, “You’re not too torn up about it, right? The bear attack…?”

Gabriel sighed and gave the bubble-boy one of his calm looks, “I’m still alive, and that’s all that matters. It’s in the past, now.”

The blonde made to pass Cameron and walk towards where the bathrooms were. As he made it to the bonfire site, Gabriel heard the rummaging of glass and other things going around the area. His eyes narrowed in the process of sneaking along the docks.

What was making all of that noise was Dawn carrying around a large trash bag. Picking up a pile of firewood and placing it in her bag, she tied it in a knot and hauled it over her shoulder. The girl pursed her lips while looking around, seemingly searching for somewhere else to go.

_ ‘What’s the meaning of this?’ _ Gabriel thought, gripping the side of the wooden post. He closed his eyes for a split second before deciding to make himself known, walking into the moonchild’s view.

When Dawn jumped in alarm at Gabriel’s sudden appearance, the boy stopped and held his hands out in front of him lazily, “Relax, it’s just me.”

Breathing out in relief, Dawn visibly calmed down and shot a little smile at her fellow blond camper, “Hello, Gabriel. What brings you here?”

“I was around and I heard you with your trash bag,” Gabriel pointed at said item in her hands, “what’s in there, if I may ask?”

“Oh! I’m going through the camp to find every bit of valuable scraps and discarded material to sell online back at home, so that I may afford a sanctuary for the poor animals here on the island,” Dawn answered with a hopeful expression.

Gabriel’s eyebrows slowly raised at her honest enthusiasm, “That’s rather courteous of you. I hope it’ll work out for you in the end.”

Dawn’s face flushed at the comment and beamed, “Thank you, Gabriel. I just can’t stand by and watch Chris get his way with nature anymore!”

With a rare pout Gabriel had never seen before, she huffed and crossed her arms while turning the other way. He studied the moping look on Dawn’s face for a minute and hummed quietly to himself. She’s rather dedicated to her beliefs and emotions.

Nothing like him. Dawn was far better than him in his eyes, and he liked that.

His green eyes trailed her petite form as he spoke up suddenly during their comfortable silence, “It’s good that you have something to work for. Just know that some people succeed because they are meant to, but most people succeed because they are driven to.”

Dawn heard Gabriel and faced down in reflection until she gave him another sweet smile, overpowering her dark blush, “You are too kind, Gabriel. I’ll keep that mind.”

“Well, I’ll let you get to it, then. See you,” Gabriel nodded and bid Dawn farewell, turning to walk the other way to leave.

“Oh, yes! Have a good rest of the day!” The blonde girl said, waving her hand before moving on to take up more stuff on the ground.

Gabriel strolled the campground with his hands in his jacket. He felt the cool breeze of the island hitting his face and tousling his bangs. Stopping in the middle of the team cabins, he turned his head to look back at the setting sun on the horizon.

His eyes squinted as he looked down. He tucked a hand underneath his white T-shirt and felt a soft and stiff wrap on his torso. When taking his hand back, Gabriel sighed and closed his eyes as he saw red blood stains on his fingertips.

“I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday,” after a short pause, Gabriel continued to the cabins to turn in for the evening, skipping dinner.

**_Next Morning…_ **

For the first time since the Maggots have been inhabiting their own personal cabin, Gabriel successfully slept the whole night in his bed. He sat up wide awake and rubbed his face clean of the drowsiness he still felt.

It was a dreamless sleep, not to his surprise. He always thought that it was impossible for him to dream. For years, Gabriel figured that there was something wrong with him. It had scared him to believe that he completely shuts down and isn’t aware of anything during his sleep.

As he stretched his right arm over his head, he heard the many voices and impressions of one particular teen in the cabin, “Alright, guys. Settle down.”

“ _...Stick ze landing, Svetlana! Practice makes perfect ten. Hiyah!” _ Gabriel moved to see Mike standing on the top bunk above him where Brick used to stay when he was still on the team.

The blonde saw Cameron on the other side with his notebook in his hands, smiling in obsession. What came next was a falling Mike who face planted the rug on the floor. Gabriel merely blinked tiredly and removed the blankets off of himself.

“Good morning, Gabriel,” Cameron said in a hushed voice.

“Yes…” The blonde greeted in return boringly. He sighed and gripped his knees before standing up slowly while his face winced just a bit.

He and Cameron heard Mike speak again, but this time in a rough Italian accent with his hair suddenly slicked back, “ _ You’re going down, Twinkle Toes!” _

Looks like Mike was having another one of his  _ special _ early morning routines. Cameron turned to Gabriel and placed a finger over his lips while he kept studying Mike’s words and actions. Gabriel leaned on his bunk bed with his arms crossed and chose to watch it unfold.

According to Cameron, Mike apparently has another side to him that is a lot more unbearable than his  _ Svetlana _ and  _ Chester _ identities. His name was “Vito”, and he was a very fiery and stubborn type with a thick accent that sounds like he belongs in one of those trashy reality shows on television. Immediately, Gabriel didn’t like him.

At all.

Then, they heard Mike’s old man impression,  _ Chester, _ again, “ _ I’ve had it with you punks!” _ Only for Mike to fall fast asleep once more.

“Fascinating…” Cameron wrote a bit more into his page. Gabriel kept his eyes on Mike’s sleeping form with an unreadable expression about them.

He went over to the window and flung the curtains wide open. The harsh sunlight poured into the room and struck Mike’s peaceful face. Like a charm, the bright and morning rays worked in jolting the spiky-haired boy wide awake.

“Aaah! It burns!” Rubbing his face, Mike blinked rapidly in order to see better. All he was met with was the faces of Gabriel and Cameron, both with their eyes furrowed in question.

Mike laughed nervously and rubbed his head obviously, “Uh, ‘sup? What’s with the looks, guys?”

Cameron sent an inconspicuous glance over to the stoic blonde. Whatever was meant by the empty gaze of Gabriel told a lot to the bubble boy who sighed quietly in worry. Mike was looking between the two in the most ultimate confusion possible.

Gabriel took to walk over to a mirror by his bedside and slip out of his shirt. He picked at the white bandages wrapped around his torso and lifted the edge to tear them off, exposing a large red scar that made up half of his right side. He grabbed a tube of ointment and layered the wound softly with the cream.

Cameron and Mike tried not to gag at the bloody sight.

Once finished, the blonde teen replaced the old bandages with fresh strips. Gabriel wrapped them around his midsection, front and back, and tightened up the ends of the tape so they would stick on there well. He made a face at the hard pressure they put on his cut.

Mike held his hands up to Gabriel with a soft frown, “Are you okay to move, Gabe? Do you need help walking to the bathroom?”

Gabriel stared at the ground for a good minute until he spoke, “...Yes, I would appreciate the help,” his two teammates smiled at him as they gathered their things to freshen up and helped him out of the cabin to the showers, despite him not feeling weak at all.

When they returned to the cabins in their regular gear, Gabriel spotted Jo standing near the foot of their house with crossed arms and a serious look on her face.

“Up and at ‘em, guys,” she blew a whistle hanging around her neck and then pointed to each of the guys individually, “ _ Pencil Neck,  _ you’re on push-ups! Mike’s on sit-ups – let’s go!”

Both aforementioned boys groaned and complied with her commands, not wanting to anger her so early in the morning. Jo turned to Gabriel with a neutral look about her. They locked eyes for a moment until the jockette motioned for Gabriel to follow her to the woods.

“ _ Gabe, _ run with me,” the blond boy said nothing but slowly jogged after her. Behind them, Mike and Cameron shared a confused look before beginning their workouts. Cameron even had a guide on how to do a push-up.

In the woods, Gabriel was running up close behind Jo all the way up a long trail going uphill. He was keeping up nicely, going as not even a few inches on Jo’s tail.

Gabriel eyed the back of her head idly with a question on his mind, “What’s the deal with you for inviting me to a morning run?”

“You’ll be racing me up this hill and back to camp, like I used to with Brick,” Jo explained, looking back at her fellow blond teammate, “and since he isn’t here anymore, you’ll be taking his place from now on.”

_ ‘...Why did I not see this coming?’  _ Gabriel mused with a dead face. They continued running up the trail some more as some time passed the early morning.

The corner of Jo’s lips rose into a smirk, “Gotta say, you’re doing a lot better than what  _ Brick-for-Brains _ was capable of. Feeling tired at all yet?”

Gabriel followed the rest of the trail up the hill with his eyes, “Not really. I just know how to pace myself.”

“Not buying it. I know you’re probably holding back, so learn to never underestimate me again,” Jo claimed, picking up her speed a bit more to stay ahead of the emotionless boy.

_ ‘...’  _ Gabriel only stayed quiet as he bent his knees a bit more. His legs started to move quicker in a faster pace. However, his form was all fair, balanced and narrow. Through his perspective, the trees and ground passed like a blur to him as he sprinted up the hill.

Missing Jo’s shocked expression, Gabriel passed her up, still with the usual blank look on his face, “On your left,” as he was already making his way back to the cabin grounds.

The downward slope practically carried him and the momentum in his feet. He felt as if he was gliding across the fast and steep ground. Like a breeze, Gabriel finished the race ahead of Jo in two minutes flat. It was a rather short and easy trail for the two of them.

Skidding to a halt, Gabriel stopped near the steps to their cabin. He found Cameron sprawled on the floor on his face and groaning in tiredness. Mike was heaving in breaths as he was holding his stomach in pain.

He heard Jo come up from behind him and could also feel the heated glare stabbing the back of his head, “Alright, that was  _ not _ natural! What do you take, huh?!”

Gabriel eyed her accusingly, “I don’t take anything; I’m clean.”

Jo smacked her forehead with gritted teeth, “I meant, what do you practice to have you so athletic like that?”

“...Violin and hand lettering,” the ever stoic blonde replied with an unreadable expression. His dead eyes bore into Jo’s through his halves eyelids.

“Fine! Be that way, then,” Jo crossed her arms and looked the other way, “and you talk about honesty like I don’t know it… Hypocrite.”

Gabriel watched Jo leave somewhere to be on her own for the time being. He turned his head to see Cameron and Mike resting on the steps from their workout Jo had put them through. She was a bit  _ too _ rough on their persons.

Just at that moment, the intercom rang through the area and Chris’s voice was on full blast, “MORNING, CAMPERS! PLEASE START MAKING YOUR WAY TO THE MAIN LODGING! BREAKFAST IS  _ SERVED!” _

“Hey, guys,” Zoey came outside of the girls’ side with Anne Maria in tow, “let’s hurry so we can be the first ones in line!”

Gabriel nodded in agreement while Cameron and Mike only sighed out in fatigue. The girls were confused until their stoic teammate explained what had happened. Together, without Jo, the other Maggots headed for breakfast.

On instinct, Gabriel turned to look behind him. He saw Dawn was just exiting her team’s cabin. The girl noticed him staring and waved at Gabriel with an eye smile. He blinked and hesitated somewhat in putting up a hand awkwardly to return the greeting before moving on.

**_Main Lodge…_ **

Chef had just finished serving Gabriel his plate of breakfast, which was just a stack of raw meat. The big cook slid the tray over to the stoic teen quick and moved on with another. Gabriel was confused as to why Chef was appearing a bit fidgety in front of him. He hadn’t been so on guard with the rest of the campers.

_ ‘Is Chris talking about me to Chef behind my back?’ _ Gabriel thought, not actually caring one bit.

“There’s protein in this, right?” He heard the voice of Lightning behind him. Chef growled at him and returned to the back of the kitchen.

Gabriel turned around and faced Lightning with a calm gaze, “We absorb less nutrients from raw meat than cooked meat. Like most foods, they’re more edible when prepared and more calories are obtained.”

Lightning’s eyebrows rose from the sudden lesson until Dawn pitched in the conversation, “You’re chi is looking shrunken,” she said, referring to the football athlete.

Appearing offended, Lightning chewed Dawn out, “Chi? Which muscle is  _ Chi?  _ Anyway, it doesn’t matter! Lightning does  _ not _ do shrinkage!”

He then switched his focus from Dawn to Gabriel, now appearing a bit weirded out from their straight faces and said, “Can’t handle this much creepiness,” before swiping Dawn’s tray away from her.

Gabriel eyed his plate and handed it over to the moonchild, “Here. I can’t stomach undercooked food. Have the apple, too.”

“That’s okay; me neither. But I’ll take the apple, though!” Dawn politely turned down the share and picked up the fruit in thanks. Gabriel merely set the rest of his tray back on the counter for Chef to take away as the two blonds went ahead together to their respective team tables.

On the Maggots’ side, Gabriel was approaching a seat near the end of the table. Jo watched him sit down with a heated glare and hurried up in eating her meal. It seemed that Gabriel didn’t notice the jockette and simply laid his head in his arms on the table.

Cameron looked over to him and frowned, “What’s wrong, Gabriel?”

“Last night was the first time I’ve slept in a bed here,” Gabriel answered, his voice muffled through his sleeves. He was still feeling the effects of just waking up, despite washing himself in the restrooms.

Mike’s eyebrow lifted inquisitively, “Why is that? How come you’ve never slept in the cabins until yesterday?”

Gabriel missed a beat in replying back before he did, “...I am sort of an insomniac, so I’ve had trouble sleeping before.”

Zoey’s eyes grew big as she gasped behind her hands, “Oh, we’re so sorry! I can’t imagine how much you’re hurting right now.”

“That explains the usual droopy eyes,” Anne Maria pointed with her fork, referring to Gabriel’s halved eyelids. All the time, no matter the situation, Gabriel always had that calm and idle look on his face.

“...I think that’s just how he normally looks,” Cameron spoke up unsurely. He looked to Gabriel for confirmation and received a nod from the blonde.

Mike rubbed the back of his head, “I can kind of get behind what Anne Maria was getting at. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile or get upset at all in the time we’ve been here!”

“Kind of  _ mysterious!” _ Zoey giggled playfully.

Rubbing his arm, Cameron peered down at the table. His mind flashed back to that moment before the scavenger hunt. The bubble boy didn’t know whether it was late or what, but he could’ve sworn he saw Gabriel shoot a tiny smile at him when trying to calm him down from his arachnophobia.

He was probably just seeing things through the dark night. Cameron sighed with an uncertain pair of eyes.

“Ugh!” Jo slammed her hands on the table and stood up while addressing her team with a utensil, “Enough about  _ Gabe! _ I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but we have a challenge today, and I expect you all to be on your A-game!”

Wordlessly, the Mutant Maggots all went back to their food. Gabriel went and laid his head down on the table again.

“...You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to show just a little bit of sympathy,” shocking the Maggots, Zoey stood and crossed her arms while sending a narrowed pair of eyes at Jo.

Not looking fazed at all, Jo merely appeared amused at the redhead’s attempt at intimidation, “I am this team’s head, so there is no amount of sympathy from me that I will expense so carelessly.”

“And exactly who made  _ you _ our leader? Oh wait, could it have been your bossy and egotistical impulse that appointed you as so?” Zoey challenged Jo in a nasty stare off.

“Wanna add to that,  _ Little Miss Muffet _ ? I dare you to keep going,” Jo got in the redhead’s face, not at all backing down.

Their argument stirred a commotion, obviously. The Rats were looking over to the Maggots in a whirlwind of confusion. Dawn had overheard the earlier conversation about Gabriel and decided to listen in on what she could learn about her fellow blond friend.

With the Maggots, Anne Maria was idly filing her nails while staring at her two female teammates. Mike looked worried for Zoey and was hoping she wouldn’t get herself hurt. Cameron was quietly tugging at his hoodie uncomfortably, not familiar with such a heated situation.

Not looking up from the table, Gabriel fortunately intervened, “Can you two not fight amongst the others so early in the morning?”

Gabriel promptly lifted his head to address the squabbling women, first meeting the redhead’s gaze, “It’s alright, Zoey. You can’t win them all. And that mean look on your face – it doesn’t suit you at all.”

Zoey had lost her voice and all confidence at the unusual compliment from Gabriel and faced the floor in perplexity, backing away from the fight, “Oh, u-uh… Umm...” her tone came out in a squeak as her face was burning up.

Mike saw the blush on Zoey’s cheeks and appeared even more worried than before. He glanced between Gabriel and his crush as a growing concern laced in his eyes. There’s no way Zoey could be interested in Gabriel all of a sudden, right? Aren’t they just friends?

Jo looked smug and sat back down with her legs crossed, “Suddenly siding with me now,  _ Gabe? _ I’m appalled.”

“Take it how you want to see it; I don’t care,” Gabriel said bluntly in his toneless way.

The jockette growled through her gritted teeth and continued eating. Gabriel had gotten on her last nerve today with that stoic attitude of his. She didn’t know what could get him going, which makes him unpredictable and, more importantly, a problem later down the line.

After hearing Gabriel defuse the situation, Dawn turned to face her team’s table. Her face contorted into a conflicted and worried mess. What could Gabriel have meant behind what he told Zoey? Did he think of her as “pretty”?

She couldn’t blame him; Zoey is quite pleasing to look at. However, Dawn didn’t know what to do with this little knot in her chest that was hurting her.

A shrill blare of the intercom blasted through the main lodge, startling everyone, “ATTENTION, CAMPERS! BREAKFAST IS CUTTING INTO PRECIOUS TIME THAT YOU CAN SPEND GETTING INJURED. GRAB YOUR SWIMSUITS AND MEET ME AT THE DOCK, PRONTO!”

Every one of the campers groaned as Chris’s voice continued, “YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO EXIT THE MESS HALL BEFORE I RELEASE… THE RACCOON!”

“The  _ raccoon?” _ Anne Maria asked incredulously before both teams erupted into laughter.

Gabriel kept silent and only took to leave the building just when a crate lowered from the ceiling. The box exploded open and out came a giant mutant raccoon. Their laughter cutting off, the teens all ran outside to safety and screamed for their lives.

Walking outside, Gabriel met up with Dawn who had also heeded to Chris’s warning, “What do you think of that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Chris is a madman, and it disgusts me to see him enjoying this,” Dawn exclaimed with a pouting glare. Gabriel couldn’t fight  _ that _ statement.

Meeting up with said host, Chris grinned and laughed at the frightful screams making their way out of the hall, “It  _ always _ works, I tell you!”

Dawn outwardly pouted while Gabriel drew his lips into a thin line. By then, the rest of the campers joined the other two with Chris in front of the main lodge.

“What's the matter with you? That thing could’ve killed us!” Jo said, putting her arms out for emphasis.

“Hahaha! Nah! Only if you’ve gotten between him and food,” Chris hummed and squinted his eyes, pointing at the Rats,” Team Rats! Still looks like you’re missing a player.”

On cue, the window to the mess hall crashed outward followed by a scream. They all saw Lightning being tossed out from the building, landing next to them.

“Nevermind!” Chris said with a smile.

_ ‘Déjà vu,’  _ Gabriel thought, calling back to Mike and the psychic mouse before the rock climbing/ice castle challenges.

**_Docks…_ **

Standing on the pier were the two opposing teams with Chris in the middle. Everyone was in their swimming gear, appropriately dressed for the occasion.

Next to Jo at the very end was Gabriel. He had on a pair of gray sweat shorts along with a pair of black scuba-look sandals and a matching black sleeveless T-shirt on to cover up his bandages. There was a printed logo on his shirt of a gray jay on the lower left above the hem in a lighter black color to blend in with the darker black.

Gabriel noticed that there was a rumpled scuba suit lying in front of the Maggots as well as the Rats. They were both attached with a long tube connecting to an oxygen pump with the team logos slapped on to them to indicate which one was theirs.

“Alright! Here to help us get today’s competition underway, say hello to one of our classic competitors, Bridgette!” Chris announced to the eleven remaining players.

Paddling on a canoe with Dakota was the familiar face of one of the show’s veteran campers. Bridgette did not look a bit happy in the slightest. It was like she wanted to be anywhere else but there.

The special guest glared at the grinning host’s face, “Let’s get this over with! Remember, my contract said demonstration  _ only!” _

“Relax, no demo needed. Just chum the water with our intern Dakota. And try not to get eaten,” Chris said.

Gabriel heard Dakota complain about the raw and foul stench of the bucket in her hand. She pulled it away from her and spilled a chunk of slimy green waste on the front of the canoe. A mutant shark surfaced and bit off the front half of the boat, scaring the wits out of the two blondes on board.

Chris held his laugh in and went on with the challenge’s explanation, “Challenge  _ part one:  _ each team must get a pair of water skis in an underwater mission, or drown trying.”

The fourteenth camper glanced at the body of water to the side and spotted several dark spots swimming around while Chris continued, “One victim – I mean,  _ camper  _ – will snag the skis in an old school diving suit and float them to the surface, while the rest of their team pumps them oxygen.”

Gabriel caught the fleeting smirk off of Jo’s face as the host finished, “First team to surface their skis wins, and gets an advantage in part two. Let’s get to it!”

Immediately, the self-proclaimed leader turned to her team, “Listen up, Maggots! I’m diving!”

“Hey, yo! What are you saying? Neither of us could do it?” Anne Maria objected with fists on her hips.

Jo promptly set the scuba helmet on Cameron’s head. The bubble boy quickly fell to the ground as his upper body didn’t allow the balance, “Jo makes a solid point…”

Gabriel eased the heavy helmet off of Cameron and helped him stand as soon as Jo started taking charge, “Listen to  _ Chicken Legs,  _ get busy pumping the air, and  _ don’t  _ make me use my whistle–huh?”

The jockette felt for her whistle around her neck, but it wasn’t there. She began looking around for the person who could have stolen it, “Alright, who took my whistle?!”

Meanwhile, Mike and Zoey were discussing on who can take over the pump, “What do you think? Should we get him to do it maybe?”

“I’m sure he would if we ask him,” Zoey did just that and waved to Gabriel, calling the stoic teen over to them, “Hey, Gabe! Wanna maybe pump Jo’s air for us, or should Mike do it?”

The blonde answered by crouching on one knee next to the oxygen, “I suppose I can do it.”

“Thanks, dude!” Mike said, chuckling anxiously. He then rubbed his arm, still a bit hung up on Gabriel and Zoey back at the mess hall. It just couldn’t be true, could it?

Just then, Jo came walking and donned the full-body diving suit. She saw that Gabriel was the one who would be pumping her oxygen. The jockette had to be thankful for that one. Meeting with Chris in the middle, she grinned competitively as Brick was the one who would be diving for the Rats.

“Ready…? Go!” Chris called. At the same time, both Jo and Brick jumped into the water and officially began the challenge.

Gabriel got to work and only focused on the pump in front of him. Mike and Zoey were standing next to him while Cameron and Anne Maria were cheering on Jo near the side. Being the one on the air pump, Gabriel was unfortunately subjected to the conversation of Mike making out with Anne Maria back in the scavenger hunt challenge.

“I swear! I don’t know how I ended up kissing Anne Maria. Sometimes I get so deep into character that I don’t know what I’m doing,” Mike tried so hard to explain his actions that day.

Zoey put a hand to her chin in confusion, “So, uh… you’re like a method actor?”

“Yes, exactly!” Mike yelled in relief and continued talking, “Look, Zoey. You’re, like, the most  _ amazing _ girl I’ve ever met!”

A happy smile slowly made its way on the redhead’s face, “The  _ most  _ amazing?”

“Yeah! And if you don’t like my, um, ‘funny characters’, then I’ll totally retire them,” Mike compromised with his crush. Gabriel had to hand it to Mike and his fast coverups.

Zoey’s eyebrows knitted in guilt, “I don’t want you to give up acting… Just, maybe try to tone it down?”

“Considering it toned,” Mike agreed while Gabriel was still pumping.

After a while, the emotionless blonde looked a bit confused when siphoning the air through the tube. Whenever the lever went down, it sounded a little clogged to Gabriel. He tried going a bit faster this time, only for it to draw up the same results.

His eyes narrowed as he scanned around the pump, looking for what was wrong with it. Almost instantly, Gabriel found the problem and only had to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. No wonder his pumping felt completely off.

Zoey was too busy talking to Mike that she had no idea that she was standing on the oxygen tube, thus preventing any air from flowing through. He guessed any kind of ignorance and cluelessness is extremely deadly, no matter who you were.

“Hey, Zoey? I’m going to need you to  _ not _ stand on the tube while I’m pumping,” like a bolt of lightning, it struck the redhead dead on as she hurriedly stepped off and held her hands in front of her mouth in shock.

She then groaned and slapped her forehead, “Ooh, Jo is going to kill me if she finds out!”

“Way to go, bozo!” Anne Maria mocked the girl. She apparently didn’t take too kindly of Zoey talking with Mike.

Zoey scoffed at the name calling and shot back at the diva, “Hey, I don’t need anyone else telling me, alright! Especially  _ you!” _

In her anger from seeing that it was  _ Anne Maria  _ of all people telling her off, Zoey poked her in the chest harshly. Her face then cringed as she saw her fingertip was covered in orange spray tan.

“Eesh! Are you wearing orange paint?” She asked, genuinely curious and concerned.

Anne Maria took it the wrong way and promptly shoved Zoey to the ground, “Oh, no, no! Nobody disrespects the tan! Hah!”

On her way down, Zoey had accidentally grabbed ahold of Mike’s shirt. As she fell completely, Zoey made the mistake of tearing off the boy’s top and inadvertently stripped him. Gabriel watched blankly as Mike gasped loudly.

Time stopped as  _ Vito _ was triggered from the mishap that had just occurred, “ _ Ladies~ Why fight? There’s enough ‘candy’ for everyone! Candy being me.” _

Showing off,  _ Vito  _ made his pectorals dance up and down. Gabriel didn’t know what to do but continue to pump air for Jo who was still down there looking for the skis. Anything to have him not look  _ too _ much at the ridiculous scene going on behind him.

From his side perspective, he found Cameron walking towards him with a frown, “Hey, Gabriel? What just happened?”

“Mike is acting up again,” Gabriel gestured with a thumb behind him.

Anne Maria was cuddling up to  _ Vito _ as the two just stood there. Zoey’s face fell into a heavy frown as she began to walk away from the docks. It was too much for her to handle.

Cameron winced, “Shouldn’t someone go after her? How about  _ you _ go, Gabriel?”

The blonde began to slow his pumping after he heard the suggestion, “...Why me?”

Chuckling nervously, the bubble boy shrugged helplessly, “Well, I don’t know. Just that you have that insane maturity and way with words. I’ll never forget the times you’ve helped me before. Why not go and help Zoey this time? She’s your teammate, too, after all.”

Gabriel sighed and pointed to the pump, “Are you saying that you want to take over from here? I don’t think Mike and Anne Maria are going to be up for the challenge anytime soon.”

“S-sure thing!” The younger boy answered, hesitating a bit. Gabriel stood up tall and spotted Zoey walking a good distance ahead to the other side of the beach. Deciding on it finally, Gabriel followed the redhead.

Footsteps imprinting in the sand, Gabriel found her sitting on a rock with a stick. He saw her draw a broken heart in the sand. That even set Gabriel on a whole new level of uncomfortableness.

He had no idea what to say about something like this. Never had he been exposed to love, teen crushes, and any of the sort. His brain was racking with everything and anything that he could come up with to say to Zoey.

_ ‘Why did you have to put me on the spot like this, Cameron?’  _ Gabriel thought with zero amusement.

Coming up beside Zoey, the stoic found her pretty down. So down that she hadn’t heard his steps in the sand just right next to her. Gabriel closed his eyes and gently cleared his throat to grab her attention.

“Huh?” Back with her senses, Zoey turned to see Gabriel there and gave a fake smile, “Oh. Hey there, Gabe? Guess you saw what went down, yeah?”

“Unfortunately,” Gabriel said bluntly in his toneless voice, hearing Zoey softly groan as she had grown used to the blonde’s forthright attitude.

Gabriel tilted his head and saw the redhead drawing a big X right through the heart in the ground. He heard her sniffling and her breathing skip from threatening tears. Gabriel was completely thrown for a loop this time.

However, Gabriel thought, that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t at least try. Zoey was a good and cheerful person. She didn’t deserve this. No one does. All she needs is for someone to give her the time of day to talk with her and work this issue out.

That someone was  _ not _ Mike, who is the general focus of this main event.

“Zoey,” seeing her look at him again, Gabriel continued, “you may not believe me, but there  _ are _ feelings in Mike solely dedicated to you. Without a doubt, I know this.”

Her eyes gradually grew big as she turned her body fully to face the blonde, “Are you really sure that he likes me back?”

Gabriel’s green eyes drifted to the sand below them, “I may not know much about this love business, but what I do know is that Mike deeply regrets hurting you. Whatever this  _ Vito _ character is, he is  _ just _ that: a character.”

Letting Gabriel resume, Zoey leaned her elbows on her knees in thought, “...Love is a noble act of self-giving. The more you give, the more you lose a part of yourself. Yet, you do not become less of who you are, rather, you end up becoming complete.”

Zoey’s head perked up and turned to eye Gabriel in revelation, “Woah… Where did that come from, Gabe?”

“I just tossed one out there to see if it worked,” the blonde shook his head and gave a pointed look at Zoey, “grant Mike one last chance, and you’ll see for yourself. If you really liked him, then this shouldn’t be too big of a problem for you.”

Her smile came back full force and she jumped up to stand, “You’re right! Thanks, Gabe! No wonder Cameron looks up to you!”

Gabriel somehow managed to wiggle out of this one. But he didn’t account for Zoey to tackle him in a friendly hug. He stood in her embrace awkwardly for a short moment until she let go and ran back to the docks.

His usual face resembling stone remained while he turned to follow her all the way back as well. But Gabriel ran into a waiting Dawn with her bag full of island souvenirs she had found on the campground.

The moonchild held her hands behind her and sent an impressed smile Gabriel’s way, “Did I ever tell you how very kind you are?”

“I think you may have already,  _ one too many times _ ,” Gabriel replied dully, but Dawn merely giggled good-naturedly at his expected response and tone.

“You know, what you do for your team really speaks volumes of your character. Despite the monochromatic aura, you, Gabriel, are pure gold,” Dawn complimented, wandering in a bit closer to Gabriel.

Lazily blinking at her, Gabriel refocused on her adjacent presence, “There’s your aura-reading again. You’re not afraid of flaunting it, aren’t you?”

“Why should I? I see no reason to hide our fellow competitors’ wonderful personalities from the rest of the world. Every life is special, and they’re even more prominent once shown in full display,” Dawn said passionately.

Gabriel hummed, “Now that’s one other thing to admire you for.”

The blond girl stopped and faced the quiet boy with a baffled expression, “You… admire  _ me _ ? Do you really?”

Nodding, Gabriel ventured off back to the challenge sight. He once again missed the blushing cheeks of Dawn as her eyes were transfixed on his retreating back. She quickly made to follow him with a jubilant smile stretching her face.

When they returned to the docks, Gabriel found out that he and the Maggots actually lost part one of the challenges. To say Jo was pretty angry was the understatement of the century. Brick won the Rats the distinct advantage for the Rats to use in part two.

As a completely stark contrast to the Rats’ speed boat, the Maggots earned a worm and dinghy raft boat with a faulty motor engine. Gabriel’s team groaned in disparity at the pathetic ride floating on the water so dubiously seamlessly. One step onto that and it’s all going down.

“Before the break, the Rats got dibs on a  _ sweet _ speed boat, which they’ll need,” Chris pointed from the Rats to the Maggots, “meanwhile, the Maggots are stuck dodging water mines in a leaky dinghy that couldn’t float in a kiddie pool.”

“Sha-BURN!” Gabriel and company heard Lightning’s mirth all the way from their spot.

Scanning the waters, Gabriel analyzed the many scattered explosive buoys. The spiky balls bounced up and down in the tides and were dangerously placed so that no manageable path could be made when driving in the boats. They’ll have to get innovative.

Chris continued on with the second explanation, “Choose three campers to water ski, one to drive, and one to operate your gull cannon! Maggots, since you have six players to the Rats’ five, you’ll need to come up with one other position to avoid slacking.”

“How would we do that?” Cameron asked, more to himself than his team. They hadn’t a clue about what to do.

“Wait.  _ Gull cannon?” _ Dawn questioned with a scared look.

Chris chuckled and held a remote in his hand, “Yeah, you heard me,” by the click of a button, the host summoned a cannon in each boat loaded with seagulls as the ammo.

Gabriel did a double take. Those seagulls appeared… not normal at all. They looked like a cross between the original seagull and a rattlesnake, as distinctive by their slit eyes and reptilian tail. He met Cameron’s concerned expression when the bubble boy bent down to study their seagulls.

“Each team gets three chances to shoot the bells – or the other team.  _ Especially  _ the other team!” Chris emphasized in an evil manner.

“And we’re dealing with mutants again, correct?” Gabriel spoke plainly with a hint of an exasperated tone.

Chris snapped his fingers at the blonde, “Right you are, my detached  _ amigo! _ These babies are half seagull, half rattlesnake – all with paralyzing venom.”

Cameron sweated nervously and thought twice before standing and walking away back to his team. The mutant birds howled their cry, sending sparks of chills down every camper’s spine. Gabriel inwardly sighed as he couldn’t get away from the island’s mutated wildlife for a second.

“The team to ring the most bells wins!” Chris said but not before laughing at everyone’s fear of the seagulls.

“Ooh, I’ll drive… If that’s okay with everyone?” Zoey volunteered to guide their boat.

Jo rolled her eyes and scoffed at the redhead, “Whatever. I’m gunning!”

“ _I’m tannin’,”_ _Vito_ said smugly, squirting a bottle of suntan lotion on his hands.

Anne Maria purred as she eyed  _ Vito _ sideways hungrily, “And I’m watching  _ Vito!” _

Zoey bristled at their close proximity and seethed with a glare. Gabriel walked by and tapped her on the shoulder before gently pulling her away from the two. The blonde gestured his fingers to walk like a pair of legs as a sign to take things slowly.

The redhead, although hesitant, complied and joined Gabriel in the boat. She stood at the wheel and ignited the raft to life. The motor in the back huffed and puffed before finally starting up after a while.

Gabriel stared blankly at the trashy engine and positioned himself to Zoey’s left, “I guess I can be your extra set of eyes for buoys and mutated sharks.”

“Thanks, Gabe,” Zoey gratefully said. Her eyes remained on the stoic boy for a second until she averted them with a weird feeling in her chest. Propelling the boat forward, she and Gabriel both groaned at how slow they were moving.

Cameron, Anne Maria and  _ Vito _ were slowly pulled on their skis and into the water. With not enough speed and momentum in the boat’s drive, they plummeted into the lake. Jo dragged her hands down her face in annoyance.

Gabriel looked down at Zoey’s feet on the pedal, “Will the boat not go any faster than this?”

“No, I’m sorry! There’s nothing I can do to make it go any faster,” Zoey apologized with a downtrodden expression.

“It’s fine. Looks like with this speed, it’s enough to keep them afloat,” the blonde pointed back at their designated skiers. Zoey made the mistake of looking and inwardly raged at  _ Vito _ smooth talking with the diva.

Sighing, Gabriel crossed his arms with a frown, “Just focus on the challenge now and you’ll get your chance later,” he barely managed a subtle glance every now and again from Zoey who tried to pay attention to what was in front of her instead.

The two heard Jo cocking the lever on the seagull cannon, “Let’s see if we can slow down those Rats! Eat gull, losers!”

“Wouldn’t it be a good idea to _not_ do that?” Gabriel asked boringly. Jo’s competitive behavior, while appreciative, is pretty much half the reason why some of these challenges usually don’t go in their favor. Second half is her arrogance.

“Gabe’s right! Maybe we should save them for the bells,” Zoey suggested, steering left to evade an incoming buoy.

Jo pretty much ignored their points and aimed for the Rats, “Of course, but we only need to hit two out of three to win!”

Locking her aim, Jo fired the first shot. The seagull blasted off like a bullet and struck the back of Lightning. With their driver down due to the venom, the Rats ran into a group of reeds sticking out of the water, thus giving the Maggots a clear field.

“Aww,  _ Rats!  _ Hehehe!” Jo immaturely mocked their rival team. Gabriel scanned ahead and found a bell coming up in their view.

Aiming the cannon, Jo was to fire but was blinded by a seagull flying past her head. The bird rang the bell and set the buoy off in an explosion. With the help of Gabriel, Zoey safely veered away from the black smog in the air.

The redhead sighed in relief, “That was close! Nice shot, Jo.”

“That wasn’t me,” Jo revealed, glaring heatedly behind her. The Rats came and passed them up as they cheered at their first point.

Gabriel sucked in his teeth and peered around for anything to use. They were losing already and needed a serious game plan to tie it up at the next bell. The gears in his mind then turned as he whipped his head back to face Cameron.

The bubble boy noticed the blonde gesturing with his hands secretly at  _ Vito,  _ or Mike in this case of a plan. Cameron got the hint immediately and grinned at the fast thinking.

“Oh, no! We’re losing! What are we gonna do?” Anne Maria yelled in worry.

“What we need is an  _ Olympian,” _ Cameron spoke while side-eyeing  _ Vito.  _ Switching roles,  _ Svetlana  _ was triggered next.

Back in the boat, Gabriel squinted at something up ahead. Their luck was turning around. Lightning had somehow slowed down their boat due to a bucket restraining his eyesight. Their skiers all were thrown into the speed boat as the Maggots passed them.

Jo kept behind the cannon, Zoey was busy steering out of harm's way, and Gabriel spotted something else. What he found next was another bell buoy dead ahead to the right. He walked around behind Zoey and snapped his fingers outside of the boat.

_ Svetlana _ saw Gabriel’s indication and got ready. Once close,  _ she _ jumped with her skis and flipped backwards three times in the air. Fluently, the five-time Russian champion landed on the bell and jumped just in time to avoid the explosion and back with the Maggots, tying up the scores.

Gabriel gave a thumbs up at Cameron who returned the expression. With enough time to recuperate, the blonde got to thinking about what could possibly happen next. He considered every factor.

The Maggots could potentially find their last bell and win the entire thing, or the Rats could somehow make a comeback and continue the challenge. With him doing practically nothing for the team, Gabriel couldn’t take standing around any longer.

_ ‘I have to do something to ensure cooperative survival,’  _ he then opened his eyes at the sound of the speed boat roaring to life behind them. Gabriel and company grew shocked at how fast the Rats recovered from their wipeout.

“Look! The Rats are back in the race,” Zoey pointed out the obvious.

“Not for long,” Jo took aim again at the Rats but heard something was up with the cannon and began hitting it, “What?! This stupid thing’s jammed!”

Gabriel reaches a lazy hand out to the mean jockette, “Beating it might not be a–!” His attempts at calming her down was a waste, for the machine blew up in her face loudly and painfully.

Zoey gasped at the total destruction of the faulty blaster, “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”

Jo shook her head off of feathers and coughed one out when she pointed in fright at the front, “Look out!”

The Maggots’ boat went up a jutting rock and flew into the air. They came back down and crashed into another rock. Gabriel took a dive into the water alone somewhere off into the deep course.

His mouth was puffed full of air as he had breathed in before landing. Gabriel narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the mutant shark, Fang, swimming his way. The blonde dove deeper and snatched a crab with three six pincers, clipping it on Fang’s fins.

The shark roared in pain before he was bluntly kicked in the face by Gabriel. Swimming away, he allowed the stoic to swim back up to the surface safely and unharmed.

He pulled his head out from the water and flipped his bangs apart from out of his eyes. Gabriel heaven himself on the rock responsible for their crash landing. Taking a short breather, he and his team watched helplessly as the Rats drove off further out of sight.

“Nice driving,  _ Red,”  _ Jo sassed at Zoey.

The redhead glowered in shame, “I’m so sorry about that, guys!”

With quick thinking, Jo pulled Gabriel to her side and whispered something into his ear. Once done, Gabriel merely tilted his head slowly to the left in sinking guilt. Jo grinned as she saw him complying with her plan.

The blonde took ahold of Cameron and lifted him up over the head as Jo clapped her hands, “Take one for the team,  _ String Bean!” _

“And by that, you mean…!” Cameron dreadfully peered down at Gabriel from up high in his hands.

“Just know that I’m not happy with this either, but a challenge is a  _ challenge _ !” On that last part, Gabriel spin and threw the bubble boy through the air towards the last bell that they needed.

The Maggots all spectated as Cameron soared through the skies effortlessly… That was until he made an awful-sounding impact with a flying Lightning. The two fell and Cameron was the one to ring the bell first. Both of them were dunked into the water followed by a big and loud explosion erupting from the ocean.

“...Oh my god!” Mike, who had returned from within his mind, shouted in shock at the horrific sight.

Back on shore, Cameron was on a stretcher getting ready to be sent to the island’s personal infirmary. Gabriel was by his side while their teammates cheered Cameron on winning the challenge today.

“Once again, my apologies for throwing you like that. Know that it was of Jo’s jurisdiction, not mine,” the young boy wrapped in gauze lifted a hand and shook his head, telling Gabriel that there was no harm done.

Gabriel let him go with the medics as they pulled Cameron into the ambulance and off to get some treatment done in on him real quick. Zoey patted her blonde friend on the shoulder with a soft smile.

“Don’t worry about it. He forgives you!” Gabriel offered a thankful nod at her as the Maggots moved on to their cabins for the day to close.

**_Campground..._ **

Hours later and Cameron was already back with his team. Mike and Zoey welcomed him as did Gabriel, though in his own expressionless way. The boys were settled for the night in their side of the cabin when they heard a knock at their door.

Jo opened the screen door and made a ‘come on’ motion with her hand, “Something you gotta see.”

Outside, they met up with the Toxic Rats. Gabriel saw how everyone on the Rats were eyeing Dawn, who was smack dab in the middle of the teens with her bag, nastily. The poor moonchild clutched her trash bag close to her chest with a hurt look.

“Friends,” she pleaded first and foremost to her fellow campers, “you must listen to me! I was framed!”

Gabriel’s green eyes squinted in suspicion at her words. Framed? What was she framed for? Someone like Dawn could probably never have any kind of dirt on her based from his previous conversations with her.

“Forget that! You’re getting a beat down!” Anne Maria said, waving her hairbrush that was ‘stolen’ from her by Dawn.

Jo held her back and blew her whistle that she had gotten back from the Rats, “Back off,  _ Helmet Hair! _ This one’s mine!” Dawn flinched underneath the jockette’s intimidating stance.

Something jumped inside Gabriel at that very moment. Without thinking, he rushed at Jo and viciously grabbed her by her jacket hoodie. He then effortlessly lifted Jo away from Dawn and got between the two.

“What do you think you’re doing,  _ Gabe?! _ Protecting your  _ girl _ , or something?” Jo accused him with a nasty glare.

Dawn’s face immediately blushed a bright red while Gabriel scrunched up his face in confusion, “What are you talking about? I’m merely trying to avoid any unnecessary conflict.”

Not the voice that Gabriel needed to hear right now, Scott spoke up with a devilish smirk on his face, “Guys, relax! This is a  _ Rat _ problem, and we’ll deal with this  _ rat _ tonight,”

With that, Dawn’s teammates left her alone outside. Jo brushed herself off and shoved Gabriel with her shoulder as she passed by him. Mike and Zoey turned to leave, but idly glanced behind them to look at Gabriel for a bit before Cameron urged them to go.

Scared for her life, Dawn dropped her bag to the ground and approached Gabriel nervously, “Gabriel, you don’t think I stole the possessions, do you?!”

“That remains to be seen,” the male blonde crossed his arms with a pointed look, “honestly, did you steal them?”

“No! I wouldn’t dream of taking anything from anyone!” Dawn proclaimed with no hesitation in her voice.

“...And this is the honest truth?” Gabriel asked for the final time.

Dawn nodded her head desperately in confirmation. Gabriel took some time and studied her teal eyes for any sign of dishonesty. She felt like her legs were filled with jello the more she stared into Gabriel’s cold and calculating forest greens.

After a long minute, Gabriel closed his eyes and nodded his head gently, “Okay, I believe you.”

Gasping, she impulsively took his hands into hers with a shaking mouth, “You do?!”

“Yes. But my say-so isn’t going to help you in this situation,” Dawn’s expression almost fell completely if it weren’t for Gabriel continuing his sentence, “so we’re going to have to do something else about it.”

Dawn was at a loss for words right now at Gabriel, “You’ll really help me, even though we’re on separate teams?”

“I don’t think teams matter at this point. You’re a friend first, Dawn,” Gabriel stated, not having a clue at how much that made an impact on the moonchild. Perfectly timed, the moon was just on the horizon.

Looking around at their surroundings, Gabriel motioned Dawn for her to follow him somewhere off into the woods, “Come on. Let’s try talking for a while.”

Trusting Gabriel, Dawn quickly made to follow and away from the cabins.

**_Bonfire…_ **

Twelve o’clock was nigh. At the elimination ceremony, the Toxic Rats were again voting someone off of the island. Scott was smiling smugly as he sent a cocky look at Dawn but was confused on why she held her hands to her chest in a praying manner.

“After an episode bursting with betrayal, it’s the Rats who have backstabbed the best,” Chris announced behind the podium with Chef back in his suit.

Chris picked up a marshmallow and addressed the awaiting ceremony, “The following campers are momentarily safe: Brick, Sam, and the artist formerly known as  _ Bucket Head!” _

Brick and Sam enjoyed their reward and Lightning pointed at the host proudly, “Sha-BAM!”

“And the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom goes too…” Chris drawled out, setting the tension between Dawn and Scott.

The farmer boy narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the unexpected behavior of Dawn. Her eyes were clamped shut, seemingly detached from the actual ceremony herself. Something was wrong here…

“...Dawn!” Chris disclosed. Chef flung the hazardous treat her way. The mysterious blonde opened her eyes in shock and cringed while dunking to avoid it.

Standing up after, Dawn hurriedly reached into her garbage bag and pulled something out that had her team gasping, “Wait! You can’t eliminate me, for I’ve found the McLean Invincibility Statue!”

Chris rubbed his chin and walked over to the idol in Dawn’s possession. The host stopped and leaned in to investigate the head all over. Dawn was sweating at the deep tension and having Chris all up in her personal space.

Suddenly grinning like a madman with a crazed look in his eyes, Chris raised his arms in the air, “Yep! Looks legit!”

“W-WHAT?! No, that can’t be! HOW?!” Scott sprang up from his seat. His entire expression screamed in shock and panic at the baffling result. How could Dawn have found the immunity idol before him?! He had searched high and low for it!

Feeling her legs had given out on her, Dawn fell back on the tree stump in relief. Her eyes glazed over in tears of joy. She had actually thought that there was no hope for her tonight. But now she could not feel ever more confident in herself.

With her heart fluttering high in her chest, she really had to make it a serious point to owe him big time.

Unknown to everyone at the bonfire, Gabriel was spying in on the ceremony. Hiding behind a bush, he hummed to himself and gazed up at the moon above. His mind wandered to what had only occurred over half an hour ago…

**_Flashback..._ **

_ “It was Scott all along?!” Dawn shouted loudly. They were in the same clearing where Gabriel had the altercation with the mutant turtle bear a little over a week ago. _

_ She knew that Scott was devious, but not this devious. He was seriously a major threat right under their noses this whole time? Now he really needed to be taught a lesson! _

_ “Think about it: why would Scott be the only one to keep on  **insisting** to put the blame on you and Brick for stealing the items? It all sounds suspicious in the first place,” Gabriel reasoned, leaning back against a tree. _

_ Dawn hummed in consideration while housing a butterfly on her finger, “That is a very good point! Shifting the focus off of him constantly should have been obvious from the get go! That’s so shady, yet clever!” _

_ “Exactly. There is also him sneaking off into the woods late at night by himself to account for as well,” Gabriel let slip out on purpose. _

_ Doing a double take, Dawn’s eyes grew big at his words, “Huh? Scott sneaks off at night in the woods?” _

_ Gabriel nodded and followed up with his statement, “Yes, and you’ll be the first one that I tell this to. I always find Scott leaving for the forest and coming back every night and day when I go to wash up in the restrooms, so I figured he does it every single night. I believe that he’s after the new invincibility statue Chris has ruled in the game.” _

_ He saw Dawn gasp and reach into her bag, revealing a short wooden statue of Chris, “You mean this? I found it inside of a tree trunk rustled in leaves and twigs,” she handed the statue over to Gabriel, trusting him with it. _

_ Taking the idol in his hands, Gabriel turned it over and narrowed his eyes shortly after he had done so, “Where’s the McLean Seal of Approval?” _

_ Blinking dumbly, Dawn looked and saw where Gabriel was inspecting at, “Seal of Approval? I don’t remember Chris saying something like that.” _

_ “It’s McLean-branded, so if anyone ever did find it, Chris would have to confirm it as to not encounter any complications of fraud,” Gabriel sighed, “like this.” _

_ Gabriel suspected that this could be the trickery of Scott’s hand. Only someone like the farmer boy could ever come up with something so perfectly scandalous. But it seems as if Scott is down for the count, like Gabriel predicted would happen. _

_ He reached a hand into his jacket and took his short spear out, “Luckily, I know exactly how it looked like when Chris showed it to us on the first day.” _

_ Gabriel turned it over and carved an outer circle along the edges of the bottom with the words “McLean Approved”. He then engraved the show’s logo in the center of the circle. It had taken some precious time, but he finished it just in time. _

_ He blew away the wood chippings off of his handiwork and handed it back over to Dawn. She gently took it back and held it close to her eyes, “W-wow, this looks really real…” _

_ “Carpentry does serve its purpose, even in the most weirdly convenient situations,” Gabriel crossed his arms. _

_ Looking up at Gabriel, she felt something sting at the corners of her eyes. “I don’t know what to say… Thank you,” Dawn said under her breath, but loud enough for Gabriel to hear her. _

_ “Don’t thank me yet. There’s still an off chance that it could backfire. But I’m sure you’re okay,” Gabriel awkwardly laid a hand on her shoulder in an attempt of easing her nerves. _

**_Present…_ **

With his million dollar grin, Chris could only laugh in hysteria, “Well, what an unprecedented turn of events! Scott, the Hurl of Shame awaits you, my good man!”

Stomping on the ground in fury, Scott pointed an accusing finger at Dawn, “I don’t believe this for a second! You did  _ something,  _ I just know you did!”

Chef came and grabbed Scott up from behind and fireman-carried him away to the docks. Dawn smiled and followed Chris to see the devious teen be chucked away. The other Rats appeared shocked at what happened and kept a good distance away from the blonde girl.

At the Hurl of Shame, Chef carelessly tossed Scott into the catapult. The gamer boy instantly got up and glared straight into Dawn’s eyes. Chris rubbed his hands as he loved every second of this.

“This is a mistake! She should be the one to go! That immunity idol is a fake! It’s one of my cheap knockoffs!” Scott desperately tried to accuse Dawn of lying about the statue.

“Tell that to the seal, brah!” Chris laughed and snapped his fingers which cued Chef to promptly launch Scott way into the sky and out of sight, never to be seen again for the remainder of the show.

They could all hear the devious boy’s screams from way into the distance. Dawn breathed out in relief and couldn’t be any happier. She confused her team by running back to camp in a search to find someone. Chris signed off the episode shortly after and dismissed the rest of the Rats.

Gabriel was walking back to his own cabin with an unknown look in his eyes, “...What goes around, comes all the way back around; full circle. Scott, good luck wherever you are.”

“Gabriel!” Hearing his name being called, the blonde halted and turned to see Dawn running to him before stopping right next to him with her eyes meeting his, “Thank you so much! You don’t know how much this means to me!”

“There’s a million dollars on the line, Dawn, so I’m quite certain I know,” Gabriel replied in his dull tone. He blankly stared at the moonchild who couldn’t help but giggle at his response.

Dawn shook her head, “I’m sorry. I should’ve expected that answer. But I truly mean it when I say that I seriously owe you so much for helping me through this. What could I ever do to repay you?”

Gabriel lazily blanked at her and lowered his gaze to the floor. In retrospect, he should’ve expected something like this to happen. He never taken into account of Dawn wanting to do something for  _ him _ in return, so he was kind of at a loss on what to say.

Until it hit him, green eyes meeting blue, “...Form a cross alliance with me. Just until the merge comes.”

Dawn grew shocked at the suggestion, even more so when he thought that she could make it to the merge, “An alliance? Are you...sure that that’s what you want?”

Gabriel nodded in certain at his request, “Mhm. With the two of us working together, we’ll be safely procuring our protection in the elimination ceremonies. Add in the advantage of us being on another team besides our official ones.”

“...You’re really good at this, aren’t you?” Shaking off her stupefaction, Dawn shot a tender smile at her new teammate, “Okay, let’s do it! I’ll be counting on you, Gabriel!”

“Mm. Likewise,” turning to leave, Gabriel and Dawn made their way to the cabin grounds.

Walking alongside Gabriel sent a chill up Dawn’s spine, but it was a  _ good _ feeling. She felt herself being drawn to him like he had some sort of gravitational pull of his own. Although scared at this new experience, she couldn’t find herself to dislike it.

Finding herself draw closer towards Gabriel, Dawn’s eyes grew yearningly as her body became increasingly warmer near the boy, “And who knows? Maybe something  _ else _ that’s good can come out of this alliance?”

“Yes, I feel as if this plan could carry us all the way,” Gabriel continued, “to the end game. I’m already working on getting us there. Are you ready?”

Dawn sighed in disappointment as her shoulders sagged, “Yes, I’m ready,” as the entered their respective cabin sides.


End file.
